What is a cult?
Dictionary definitions are useless, if you compare the early church to the dictionary definition you would define the early church as a cult. The Bible is also difficult to use as they don't use the word "cult". The Bible, both old and new testaments are far more focused on "false prophets", "antichrists", Jezebel and the synagogue of Satan.
However, in my opinion the very best book on exposing and dealing with cults in the New Testament is the book of James. It seems that every apostle had his ministry founded in his mistake (Peter denying the Lord, Mark backsliding, and Paul persecuting the Body of Christ). Among these James was a "cult leader" of the "concision". A ministry is when the Lord rescued you from something you are then able to rescue others. The word that the Lord gave you which saved you, that is the word you can then share to save others. So there is no one better at helping us to be saved from a cult than James who was overtaken by this error. In my opinion His book exposes the full range of cults including Hitler. But there is one verse that totally obliterates the religious cults, the kind of cults that most people equate with cult leaders and the type that most people are deceived by.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
A cult is basically an imbalanced response to the world. First, some will not look after orphans and widows. What that means is the cult is all about supporting the cult leader. You sell flowers at the airport to raise money for his ministry. This kind of religious cult will be so focused on supporting their false prophets ministry that they will exclude all other charitable work. Helping orphans and widows does not refer to the members of the church. If I have to be a member and give all my worldly goods to your organization for you to then help me you are not helping orphans and widows, you are using and abusing your members. So pay careful attention to how these leaders live (not what they say). If they live in a mansion, fly on private planes, drive luxury vehicles, have big gold chains, that should be a very big sign. This does not mean that dressing like a slob, driving a broken down jalopy, or living in a shack is a sign of holiness. The leader of the church is supposed to be an example to the flock.
The second way in which people become unbalanced is the second portion "keep oneself from being polluted by the world". Very often the religious cult will do that, they are so strict about keeping themselves unblemished that they fully cut themselves off becoming dependent on that cult leader. It feeds a holier than thou attitude which would be inoculated against if they were caring for orphans and widows during the day. Remember we are not to go out of the world, but rather to be witnesses to the world. This is the Jim Jones and Charles Mason version of cults.
On the other hand you have those who do contribute to charities which care for widows and orphans but they are polluted by the world. We refer to this kind of cult as "the apostasy". These are religious leaders who portray themselves as pious and sanctified but tell you repeatedly how it is not necessary to listen to the Lord's word or the fellowship of the apostles. "What they said about elders is out of date, what they said about head covering is out of date, what they said about sin and the flesh and hell is out of date." The Lord cared for tax collectors and prostitutes, but He wasn't polluted by the world. Today we have extremists on both sides, and their behavior is cultic. Everyone today seems to be worried about religious extremists, but secularism is just another form of a cult, those who are completely spotted by the world.
If you meet with Christians who care for widows and orphans on the one hand, but on the other are very serious about not being polluted by the world then you will be able to find that narrow way that leads to life.
The US has become the kind of cult that pretends to care for widows and orphans but is polluted by the world. I think most people will agree that the poor which are often widows and orphans are the most oppressed. They were the victims of the mortgage meltdown, they were the ones who wind up fighting in wars and getting killed by roadside bombs. Do you think the huge multinational corporations like Coca Cola, MLB, and Facebook are concerned about the poor? Is it possible that the 1% who have gotten rich and powerful by taking widows houses and giving long prayers as a pretense for being holier than thou have had a change of heart? After the lies the NFL told us concerning CTE and the cigarette companies told us about their product not being a drug, and damage that sugar drinks have done to the nations health and MLB condemning the US while doing business with China, a country actively involved in genocide I am not inclined to listen to them.
The multinational corporations are focused on polluting you with the world. They worship the creature, they serve the flesh and they want to pollute you with the world, so they are a cult.
The election audit has revealed that these large multinational corporations are paying 100's of millions of dollars to steal the elections. If you control who counts the votes you control the democracy and this is what China and Russia do. Our democracy depends on free and fair elections and the only way to confirm that no one is stealing the elections is to do an audit.
James 4:4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.
This battle we are seeing over having an audit done is because of sin. Someone has sinned and is willing to kill to cover it up. If you ignore it you will regret it, you will allow a killer to get away with murder. Therefore do the entire investigation under an intense spotlight. Make sure you monitor and observe what is going on at all times and let's get to the bottom of it because we are "directly over the target". We are touching on the sin that will expose this killer. The thief comes not but to kill, steal and destroy. Look at Afghanistan, look at the Ukraine, look at the Southern border, look at the inflation, this stolen election has consequences.
Dictionary definitions are useless, if you compare the early church to the dictionary definition you would define the early church as a cult. The Bible is also difficult to use as they don't use the word "cult". The Bible, both old and new testaments are far more focused on "false prophets", "antichrists", Jezebel and the synagogue of Satan.
However, in my opinion the very best book on exposing and dealing with cults in the New Testament is the book of James. It seems that every apostle had his ministry founded in his mistake (Peter denying the Lord, Mark backsliding, and Paul persecuting the Body of Christ). Among these James was a "cult leader" of the "concision". A ministry is when the Lord rescued you from something you are then able to rescue others. The word that the Lord gave you which saved you, that is the word you can then share to save others. So there is no one better at helping us to be saved from a cult than James who was overtaken by this error. In my opinion His book exposes the full range of cults including Hitler. But there is one verse that totally obliterates the religious cults, the kind of cults that most people equate with cult leaders and the type that most people are deceived by.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
A cult is basically an imbalanced response to the world. First, some will not look after orphans and widows. What that means is the cult is all about supporting the cult leader. You sell flowers at the airport to raise money for his ministry. This kind of religious cult will be so focused on supporting their false prophets ministry that they will exclude all other charitable work. Helping orphans and widows does not refer to the members of the church. If I have to be a member and give all my worldly goods to your organization for you to then help me you are not helping orphans and widows, you are using and abusing your members. So pay careful attention to how these leaders live (not what they say). If they live in a mansion, fly on private planes, drive luxury vehicles, have big gold chains, that should be a very big sign. This does not mean that dressing like a slob, driving a broken down jalopy, or living in a shack is a sign of holiness. The leader of the church is supposed to be an example to the flock.
The second way in which people become unbalanced is the second portion "keep oneself from being polluted by the world". Very often the religious cult will do that, they are so strict about keeping themselves unblemished that they fully cut themselves off becoming dependent on that cult leader. It feeds a holier than thou attitude which would be inoculated against if they were caring for orphans and widows during the day. Remember we are not to go out of the world, but rather to be witnesses to the world. This is the Jim Jones and Charles Mason version of cults.
On the other hand you have those who do contribute to charities which care for widows and orphans but they are polluted by the world. We refer to this kind of cult as "the apostasy". These are religious leaders who portray themselves as pious and sanctified but tell you repeatedly how it is not necessary to listen to the Lord's word or the fellowship of the apostles. "What they said about elders is out of date, what they said about head covering is out of date, what they said about sin and the flesh and hell is out of date." The Lord cared for tax collectors and prostitutes, but He wasn't polluted by the world. Today we have extremists on both sides, and their behavior is cultic. Everyone today seems to be worried about religious extremists, but secularism is just another form of a cult, those who are completely spotted by the world.
If you meet with Christians who care for widows and orphans on the one hand, but on the other are very serious about not being polluted by the world then you will be able to find that narrow way that leads to life.
The US has become the kind of cult that pretends to care for widows and orphans but is polluted by the world. I think most people will agree that the poor which are often widows and orphans are the most oppressed. They were the victims of the mortgage meltdown, they were the ones who wind up fighting in wars and getting killed by roadside bombs. Do you think the huge multinational corporations like Coca Cola, MLB, and Facebook are concerned about the poor? Is it possible that the 1% who have gotten rich and powerful by taking widows houses and giving long prayers as a pretense for being holier than thou have had a change of heart? After the lies the NFL told us concerning CTE and the cigarette companies told us about their product not being a drug, and damage that sugar drinks have done to the nations health and MLB condemning the US while doing business with China, a country actively involved in genocide I am not inclined to listen to them.
The multinational corporations are focused on polluting you with the world. They worship the creature, they serve the flesh and they want to pollute you with the world, so they are a cult.
The election audit has revealed that these large multinational corporations are paying 100's of millions of dollars to steal the elections. If you control who counts the votes you control the democracy and this is what China and Russia do. Our democracy depends on free and fair elections and the only way to confirm that no one is stealing the elections is to do an audit.
James 4:4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.
This battle we are seeing over having an audit done is because of sin. Someone has sinned and is willing to kill to cover it up. If you ignore it you will regret it, you will allow a killer to get away with murder. Therefore do the entire investigation under an intense spotlight. Make sure you monitor and observe what is going on at all times and let's get to the bottom of it because we are "directly over the target". We are touching on the sin that will expose this killer. The thief comes not but to kill, steal and destroy. Look at Afghanistan, look at the Ukraine, look at the Southern border, look at the inflation, this stolen election has consequences.