Tag Archives: Cults

What is a cult?

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We live in a culture where the word cult has become pretty much anti-PC. We not supposed to call any group a cult… unless it is some really wacked-out fringe group obviously controlled by a total nut job. Jim Jones? Cult! Heaven’s Gate? Cult! David Koresh? Cult! But the Mormons? Oh, my… let’s not be unkind. Jehovah’s Witnesses or Christian Scientists? Well, maybe misguided… but really not such bad folks. Let’s not label them with the “C” word. UGH!

In this religious climate, it is important to once again consider what a cult really is. Continue reading →

Group Snapshot: Seventh-Day Adventists

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In the early 19th century a Baptist layman and amateur Bible scholar by the name of William Miller conducted research into what the Bible had to say about the timing of Christ’s Second Coming. According to Miller, he conclusively calculated the date of the Lord’s advent. Miller attracted quite a following from a number of different Christian groups. After setting a couple of dates which proved false, he finally settled on October 22, 1844 as the date of the Lord’s return. But that day came and went. So traumatic was this to the “Millerites” that this time came to be called the Great Disappointment. Continue reading →

Group Snapshot: Unification Church (Moonies)

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Anyone who was alive in the 1970’s knows at least something about the “Moonies.” Go to any decent sized city and it was common to see the followers of Rev. Sun Myung Moon standing on street corners, selling flowers and raising millions of dollars for their “True Father.” The Moonies were virtually the standard stereotype for what a brainwashing, life-dominating cult was supposed to be.

While the followers of Rev. Moon were popularly known as Moonies, the actual religious organization was the Holy Spirit Association for World Christianity. This was founded by Moon in Korea in 1954. Continue reading →

Group Snapshot: Bahais

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A Persian man named Mirza Ali Muhammad in 1844 proclaimed himself to be a specially chosen prophet of God, and began to call himself the Bab, which means “the Gate,” signifying that he was the open door to God. His followers were called Babists. The Muslims of Persia rejected this new prophet, putting him to death in 1850. However, before he was killed the Bab prophesied that a prophet would arise after him, who would be the greatest prophet of all time.

The successor to the Bab was another Persian named Mirza Husayn Ali, who proclaimed that he was the Chosen One prophesied by the Bab. He took the name Baha’u’llah, which means the “glory of God.” Baha’u’llah asserted that all religions were expressions of worship of the true God. The original prophets of each religion had taught the same truths. But their followers had corrupted the pure message God had given these prophets. His basic teachings focused on the harmony of all religions, and that an era of universal peace was approaching.

Baha’u’llah faced persecution and exile for many years. But he continued to proclaim his message until he died in 1892. After his death, his eldest son, Abbas Effendi, took over the leadership of the movement. He took the name Abdul-Baha. Effendi toured Europe and American in 1912, making quite a few disciples, Woodrow Wilson’s daughter being one of them. Since that time, Bahai worship centers and groups have been established throughout the U.S. and around the world. The international headquarters of Bahaism is found in Israel.

Although Bahai draws inspiration from all religions, it does have its own religious system. There are particular scriptures, the writings of Baha’u’llah. They have their own fast day at the Bahai new year (March 20-22). This is followed by a nineteen day period of feasting. They abstain from alcohol and all drugs. They stress the importance of chastity.

It can be difficult to witness to a Bahai, because they draw their inspiration from so many sources. However, like any cult, they deny the essentials of the Christian faith. They utterly reject the Trinity, the deity of Christ, His incarnation, His sinless life, His bodily resurrection, and salvation through grace alone.

Essential Beliefs
God: There is one God, proclaimed by all religions. There is no Trinity.
Jesus: Jesus was a prophet, but nothing more than this. He did not rise bodily. He is not deity.
Sin: Sin is an imperfection which can be removed through proper teaching.
Salvation: Based on human effort, good works, prayer and worship.
Scriptures: The Scriptures of all religions are honored. However, the Bible is not inerrant. The highest revelation of God’s will is found in the writings of the Baha’u’llah.
Afterlife: There is a hell, but it is only remedial, not eternal. There is a paradise for the righteous.
Truth: There is truth in all religions. However, the most perfect truth has been revealed by the Baha’u’llah.

Group Snapshot: Scientology

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From UFO Rejects to Reincarnated Gods!

Fasten your seatbelts, hold onto your hats, and get ready for the out-of-this-world, interplanetary, galactic-swooping, spiritually strange spaceship ride of your life (or lives). You are about the enter something weirder than the Twilight Zone. It is the world of Scientology.

Scientology was founded, developed and formed from the incredibly creative mind of L. Ron Hubbard. Hubbard was somewhat of a minor celebrity as a popular writer in the world of S-F (science fiction) during the golden era of pulp magazines and really bad B-movies. He switched from S-F to pop psychology in the 1950’s when he developed a system of therapeutic treatment called Dianetics. Dianetics taught people that they had latent within them emotional and psychic traumas that affected their health, mental welfare, and ability to function and succeed in life. These traumas were buried deep in their minds as something called engrams. Through Dianetics, a person could be taught to expose, identify and get rid of these dangerous and debilitating engrams. This was accomplished by holding onto to two metal cylinders (think of a tin can with no label on it) attached by wires to something called an E-meter. (E-meter is short for “electropsychometer.”) A trained person called an “auditor” asked you questions and took notes of the needles on the E-meter, thus identifying your engrams. This process, called auditing, helped you get rid of the engrams, and set you on the road to mental health. The goal is to become a “clear,” that is, someone who has no longer has any engrams hanging around. But before this happens, you must face the challenge of being a “preclear.” (Of course, during the process of going from preclear to clear, you must spend many hours and thousands of dollars on being audited.)

The only problem with this auditing process was that it smacked an awful lot of psychological therapy. As a result, Hubbard and Dianetics started running afoul of the official medical groups and governmental agencies. So to avoid these problems the principles of Dianetics were transformed from psychological theory to religious practice. And thus was born the Church of Scientology in 1952. With the change to a religious system, other teachings were added to the theories of Dianetics.

For example, Hubbard taught that all human are actually immortal, spiritual, god-like beings called “thetans.” If we are little gods, how did we get into these mortal bodies and become plagued by all these nasty engrams. The answer lies in the far distance history of our race. Originally we thetans living on another world under the tyrannical rule of a being called Xenu. Xenu was lord of the Galactic Confederacy. 95 million years ago (yes, I said 95 million) Xenu was facing a colossal problem, overpopulation on multiple worlds. He solved this problem by bringing the thetans from these worlds to the earth. Here he dumped them en masse near active volcanoes. He then set off the volcanoes by exploding H-bombs. This caused the thetans to cling to each other, and (horror of horrors) the material worlds. (Remember, thetans are spiritual beings.) The thetans became entrapped in matter, and began a process of incarnation and reincarnation through the evolving creatures of this planet. This ongoing process has continued to this day.

To sum up, you are a god-like being called a thetan, trapped in a mortal body, and struggling because of the thousands and thousands of psychic engrams you have have collected through millions of years of reincarnations in various evolving life forms. If all this sounds totally wacky, remember that Hubbard began his career as a science fiction writer.

Scientology is a unique and rather odd religion. Beginning in the science fiction realm with overtones of bogus psychological theory, Hubbard added a variety of concepts and ideas from many sources, including Gnosticism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and a lot of imagination. Mixing all this together, Scientology now claims that it has a belief system superior to any other religion, and a practical philosophy that ensures success, health, and complete well-being—in addition to achieving your own divine status as an “Operating Thetan.”

Summary of Beliefs

God: There are many gods in the universe.
Jesus: One avatar of the divine, but not even an Operating Thetan.
Salvation: Release from the cycle of death and reincarnation. This is achieved through your
own efforts in the practice of Scientology.
Human nature: Man is basically good. We are fallen in the sense that we are spiritual beings
entrapped in matter.
Sin: There is no such thing as sin or evil. These are illusions.
Afterlife: There is no heaven or hell in the Christian sense. Man may advance to a deified state.
Scripture: The writings of L. Ron Hubbard.
Truth: Relative, individual and existential in nature.

Sources:

Martin, Walter. The Kingdom of the Cults. Ravi Zacharias, ed. Minneapolis, MN: Bethany
House Publishers, 2003.

Mather, George A. and Larry A. Nichols. Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the Occult. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993.

Lewis, James R., ed. The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects and New Religions. 2nd ed. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2002.