Cult or Healthy Church?

What is a cult? What is a healthy church?

Recently, after watching a video of some strange preaching, I told someone that I came out of a group twenty years ago that began well, but ended up off track. I also have read or heard of people who were in cultish groups.

This person recommended I write a list of  characteristics to be careful of. While not claiming to be an expert, maybe these points could help someone you know. Any of us could fall into at least one area, and begin to get off track. Characteristics:

1. Elitist and exclusive-- Cults believe they are the only ones with the latest revelation or the real truth. They are the chosen ones.  None of the rest of the Christian churches really get it and don't really count. The city or the world will be saved by them.

Correction: While it's understandable that a leader would want to build a "team mentality" in his congregation by telling them they are special and excite them about the vision of the church–kind of like a sport's coach would do–yet, if they don't value and honor the other churches and Christians around them, they are holding a haughty, exclusive, and elitist attitude, and missing the bigger picture.
1 Cor. 12:27, 21 "Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it...The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you...!'"
Also, no church has all the truth. "We know in part, and we prophesy in part..." 1Cor. 13:9.
 
I like what Dutch Sheets said when he exhorted the pastors at a conference to have a corporate vision for their city. He said, "Who knows if God has called one intercessory church of 200 to pray for the church of thousands down the street who is bringing in the lost to Jesus." (paraphrased). Read all 1 Cor. 12.

2. Control-- Cult leaders control their members to the point that they get involved in their personal lives, telling them where to work, who to marry, where to live, etc. They replace the Holy Spirit in peoples' lives.

Correction:  The limits of church leadership is to oversee the function of a local meeting. But other than teaching biblical principles, they have no right to make final decisions in people's lives. That responsibility is each person's God-given right–ever since the creation of Adam and Eve–even if they make wrong choices. (If a person chooses to live in clear biblical sin, a pastor can simply exclude them from church leadership until they repent and are taken through a process of restoration). Wise pastors will point each person to hear from Jesus and to know the Word for their own decisions in life.

3. View of Jesus-- Cults begin to elevate who they are, and de-value who Jesus is. They de-value the power of what Jesus did on the cross, as the Son of God, and the power of His shed blood to save us. Very dangerous.

Correction: Jesus must be exalted above all else.  There is salvation in none other. He is God and Lord over all.
Acts 4:12 "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." His blood is powerful to save. Heb. 9:14- to cleanse our conscience; Heb. 13:12- to make us holy.

4. Legalism-- Cults make people earn their right to be the chosen, by performance. Cults usually have their own version of what sin is, creating lots of rules and regulations that are not clearly laid out in the Bible. When fulfilled, they may look good outwardly, but they either create a sense of self-righteousness, or they cause secret sins to abound even more. Col. 2:6-23.

Correction: We are saved by grace, yes unto good works, but not our own. They're His works in us as we yield to Him. Having begun in the Spirit, we should not later try to earn our salvation by works of the flesh. Gal.3:3. If you focus on sin–or not sinning–you become more sinful. Col. 2:23. If you focus on Jesus, you become like Him. 2 Cor. 3:18. Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
Gal. 5:16

5. You're stuck-- Cults don't let you go once you join without black-listing you. If you say that you feel to leave, you are wrong no matter what. You will be leaving God and God's will. You are in rebellion.

Correction: True, some may be leaving for wrong reasons. For example, if they have a bitter attitude toward someone, the leader can encourage them to work that out. But if they still say God is leading them to leave, then it must be honored, and they must be released. We must have a larger vision of the body of Christ.
1 Cor. 3:6 "I planted the seed, Apollos watered, but God made it grow."

Interestingly, the French government investigates independent churches, and labels a church as a cult if they do not allow people to leave freely, putting restrictions on those groups.

6. Ingrown-- Cults become ingrown. They don't reach out to the lost or care too much about others outside their group. So they become ingrown, focusing on each other. This increases the sense of being "the elite" yet also increases gossip, criticism, and even secret sins among themselves.

Correction: Dennis has a teaching about the "whirlwind church." With Jesus as the true head, it should always be uplifting and pushing outward, impacting the world and launching new ministries. Yet in the center of the whirlwind church there is peace.  Ingrown groups have the headship issue wrong, giving it to a person in an unhealthy way. The focus  is no longer outward, but inward to maintain and hold everyone in, creating chaos and discontent. Jesus' disciples were those "who turned the world upside down" and so should we. Acts 17:6.

May the Holy Spirit give each person discernment. If a group doesn't "smell right" there may be a problem. At the same time, this is not meant to nit-pick a church, if in general they are healthy. There is no such thing as a perfect church or group, and God doesn't want you to be a bitter hermit. Only through interaction with others can you grow. That's why God calls us the body of Christ, each one supplying a part.
I Cor. 14:26; 1Cor. 12:4-12.

Best of all, I know that if the Holy Spirit shows up in power, he can straighten out a whole lot of problems. A church that spends time in the Word and in intimacy with Him, will come to life. Just like Aaron's rod. Heb. 9:4; Num. 17:8. Only by connecting to Jesus, will we bear any fruit. Jn. 15. Through Him we can impact the world around us.

Blessings,
Lynnie Walker
Las Vegas, NV
lw@DunamisARC.org