What makes a new religious movement (cult)?

If you’ve read my previous writings, you’ll know that I include my own experiences of going to a cult church, and exchanging dialogues with them. I won’t claim that I am an expert on this field, but I do have some experiences and knowledge regarding different types of cults; new religious movements. I’ve dealt with Mormons, members of the 'church of the almighty god', Seventh Day Adventist*, and Jehovah’s Witness. Branding a church as a cult is a big claim, and I will try to identify a few features to what makes a cult… and of course, I’m not writing this purely from my experiences and knowledge, but with the knowledge and experiences with pastors and converts from new religious movements.

(quick note: an ‘objective’ name to describe cults, is by calling them new religious movements. I actually prefer the name ‘new religious movement’, because I like the word ‘religious’. I personally don’t classify Christianity [Protestantism] as a religion, for it’s based on a relationship despite dogmatism. However, the reason why I like the term ‘New religious movements’, is because I find most cults not based on a divine relationship between God and man, but religious features: tradition and rules and regulations.)

Features of new religious movements:

***Note: Not all new religious movements have these features, and these are the common ones. Some distinctive movements have specific issues that distinguish them as a cult. More explanation will be provided.

1. A unique doctrine of it’s own, which has similar (or equal) worth with the Bible.
1. EG: Book of Mormon, New World Translation etc
   
   

   
   
2. ‘My church is the only true church!’ claim.
1. Some movements claim that they are the ‘only’ church of God.
   
   

   
   
3. Different interpretation of the Trinity.
1. Eg: Jesus is not The Father and The Spirit in terms of how there are 3 different gods
   
   

   
   
4. A forceful (unnecessary) addition of acts and ways which believers should follow.
1. Eg: SDA thinks that believers are not to drink anything with caffine with the principle that we should do all that we can to keep our bodies healthy. (then we should not even eat meat, according to their principle -_- )
   
   

   
   
5. A founder of an exceptional high regard.
1. Most churches have founders, yet cults usually place their founder as a ‘god’ or ‘Saint Mary’ type person; meaning that they are ‘above’ normal man.
2. Eg: Ellen White, Joseph Smith
   
   

   
   
6. Jesus NOT as the only way to salvation.
1. Examples:
1. SDA: must keep Sabbath in the OT way
2. Eastern Lightning (which isn’t their official name btw): Must have a good amount of works too, which says that one cannot have salvation by justification.

I’ve just listed a few features of cults, HOWEVER, even if they don’t have the above characteristics, some churches can be new religious movements as well. Thus, how are we to distinguish whether a cult is truly of God or not? (one cannot simply 'feel' that a church is not of God without Biblical or theological reasoning)

1. THE CREED:
   
   

   Whenever a church has a different Creed than the one we believe, (God = The Father, Christ The Son, Holy Spirit; which are all God, and not separate deities) that church is branded as a new religious movement without doubt. If a ‘church’ says that Jesus is not the way the truth and the life, then we automatically brand them as a cult too. I’ll first use the example of the Seventh Day Adventist church.

   
   

   
   

   I've only been to ONE SDA church, so I won’t brand all of them as cults, but during the conversation with the church members and the senior pastor, I realized that they were off track and not of God, (despite the same creed) because of one particular belief that they have. They believe that if you don’t obey the Sabbath in the Old Testament way, (which is ‘sanctifying’ yourself on Saturday, The Lord’s Day. This was a very very brief explanation) you are not a Christian. Thus, they brand ALL people who worship God on Sunday, as Sunday Worshipers, meaning that we are all pagan worshipers. (debate on whether we should worship on Sunday or not is a whole different issue)

   
   

   However, their ‘Jesus’ is significantly different from our Jesus. (they also claim that our God isn't their god) It is different, for their ‘god’ only grants salvation to those who keep the Sabbath in the OT way; which is also saying that salvation is ‘Jesus + works (keeping Sabbath)’.

2. Whether or not their 'God' is the same as our God:
   
   

   To be honest, many new religious movements play smart in the current generation, with the belief of Matthew 10:16 “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” They claim to have the same Creed, and that Jesus is Lord, Savior and Creator. Well, they might truly believe that, but it’s the other stuff that matters.

   
   

   
   

   Evaluate whether a church truly believes in the same God is rather hard. Family International is a new religious movement with the exact same belief and Creed. (if they haven’t changed anything yet) However, the reason that they are a cult, is because they promote sex in the congregation. Their founder, whomever he was, claimed that we are not just symbolic as the bride, but the actual bride of God, thus we should share an sexual relationship with Him. What’s worse, is that we can ‘share God’s love’ with one another, by having sex with those in the congregation.

   
   

   Therefore, even though we share the same Creed and mostly the same beliefs, they are not part of the church, and not of God; for their god is not our God. Their ‘Jesus’ is a demonic spirit, perhaps a 'Bethsheba spirit', a spirit of sexual immorality that encourages us to sin without realizing it.

   
   

   FYI, this isn’t ‘special’.  The people of Israel sinned greatly in the house of the Lord without realizing it. They thought they were worshiping the King of Heaven, but they were in fact worshiping the Queen of Heaven, which is ironically the wife of Baal. Their god, who they claim as the true God, was in fact a pagan god.

To come to a close, I want to make a point which you mustn't miss. There are some ‘traditional’ cults which the church can easily recognize as falsehood, however, there are also some that are ‘unclear’. Some may say that ‘that particular church is a cult!’, while some may say ‘God’s presence is vivid in that church, go there now!!’.

To comment on a church, claiming that they are ‘new religious movements’ is easy. However, how valid is the comment itself? The reason why I chose to go to the Seventh Day Adventist church was because I heard too much of the comments, and I needed an answer. Thus, I set out to find the answer myself. Sometimes a lot of the people who place their opinion, have not been to the ‘cult’ itself, nor talked with it’s members. How valid would their opinions be?

Thus, the best way of distinguishing whether a church is of God or not, is by actually going there, or talking to it’s members. I’m not saying that you just go to a cult without preparation, prayer or advice; for it would be reckless; however, what people say may not really matter; for it may not be what God says. If a church is truly of God, what people say won’t shatter it, but make it stronger; for God is with them. If you look at church history, you’d see that people persecuted the church of God. Some Christians even got martyred, but despite all that, it grew stronger, bolder and vivid in Christ. (and there was the gnostics haha)

To know what God says about a church, you must first know who God is, and what God loves; enlisted in the Holy Word of God. When your foundation is solid and impenetrable, then go, as sheep among a midst of wolves, and guide them with the light of Christ in you.

-Barnabas