WHAT IS A “CHRISTIAN” CULT?

As cult expert Alan Games has stated, "cults grow out of and deviate from a previously established religion."

Therefore, a cult of Christianity would be a group of people who claim to be Christian yet hold to "a particular doctrinal system" set forth by a leader, group of leaders, or organization which "denies ... one or more of the central doctrines of the Christian faith." (Ron Rhodes, The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions; Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2001)

Christianity's central doctrines include:

• God (Trinity

• The deity and work of Jesus Christ on the cross

• Humanity's sinfulness

• Salvation by grace alone through faith

• The authority of Scripture

Cults of Christianity are groups whose claims about these central doctrines contradict what the Bible teaches including ...

Jehovah's Witnesses

Mormonism

Christian Science

The Family/Children of God

Unification Church

Christadelphians

Oneness Pentecostalism

but excluding other groups such as ...
Scientology (no direct relation to a previously established religion, despite the cross in their logo Hare Krishna (no biblical basis

Three main types of injury from false beliefs:

Physical – In some cases, followers of Christian Science have died because they rejected medical treatment, believing that sickness and death are illusions. Jehova’s Witnesses have lost their lives because they refused blood transfusions, believing the cult’s teaching that receiving a blood transfusion violates Jehovah’s law. In these and other groups, people have unwittingly believed something and lost.

Emotional – Members of a cult often feel extreme guild because they’re trapped in a system in which they have to earn their salvation—the standards being so high that they can never completely measure up. They are required to obey the cult’s rules precisely, and if they fail, they’re not saved.

Spirituall – Cults proclaim a different Jesus b y denying what the Bible teaches about who Jesus is and what he did for us on the cross. Thus, they redefine the gospel of salvation. If people have a counterfeit Jesus with a counterfeit gospel, then they have a counterfeit salvation!

No surprise here. Satan has been working overtime to confuse, deceive, mislead and destroy Christians, Christianity and the Bible from the get-go!

As Christians, we are engaged in an intense spiritual warfare. "Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." (1 Peter 5:8) Unsuspecting Christians who are weak in the Word typically fall prey to these "Christian Cults" believing they are still in Christ...only to find themselves deep into a "religion" that could not be further from God!