📖 Cults & World Religions — Unit 1: What Is a Cult? The Biblical Test

Anchor: Galatians 1:6-9 — with 2 Corinthians 11:3-4; 1 John 4:1-3; Jude 3 (NKJV)

A Word Before We Begin

This course examines groups whose teaching departs from the gospel of Jesus Christ — some that call themselves Christian, and some that belong to the great religions of the world. Its method is simple, and it will not change: we take each group's teaching as it actually is, and we test it by the Word of God, and where it departs from the gospel we say so plainly. That is not unkindness; it is the one thing love truly requires, for every person we study is made in God's image and is someone for whom Christ died, and the most loving thing we can do for anyone is to tell them the truth about Christ. So we set our course by a single verse, and need not repeat the sentiment in every unit that follows: we speak "the truth in love" (Ephesians 4:15) — all the truth, and in love. What remains is to learn what a cult actually is, and how to tell one.

What Do We Mean by "Cult"?

The word "cult" is easily misused, so we must define it with care. In this course a cult is a group that claims to hold the truth about God — often claiming to be the true form of Christianity — yet denies one or more essentials of the biblical gospel, especially who Jesus Christ is and how a person is saved. A cult is not simply a group we dislike, and the word is not an insult hurled at people. It is a careful description of a teaching's relationship to the gospel.

We must keep three things distinct. A cult claims Christ but denies an essential of the faith — as we will see with the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Latter-day Saints. A world religion, such as Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism, is a wholly separate faith that does not claim to be Christianity at all. And a Christian tradition — a genuine denomination — agrees on the essentials (the Trinity, the full deity of Christ, salvation by grace through faith) while differing on secondary matters such as the mode of baptism or the form of church government. Those who agree on the gospel but differ on lesser things are brothers, not a cult. To confuse these three is to be unfair to some and careless with others.

The Marks of a Cult

Cults differ from one another, and no single group shows every mark. But certain features appear again and again, and learning to recognize them helps us test wisely. The first and gravest is a different Christ: the group denies His full deity, or His true humanity, and gives us a Jesus who is less than the eternal Son of God. The second is a different gospel: salvation is made to rest, in whole or in part, on works and performance rather than on the grace of God received by faith. A third is an added authority: a new book, a living prophet, or an organization is placed alongside or above the Scriptures. Often there follows an exclusive claim — that only this group is saved — and with it a measure of control, so that to leave the group is made to feel like leaving God. Behind all of these lies a single pattern: something has been added to, or taken from, the finished work of Christ.

The Biblical Tests

We do not test these groups by our own opinions, but by Scripture, which teaches us plainly how to test. Paul writes that if anyone preaches "any other gospel" than the true one, even "an angel from heaven," he is to be accursed (Galatians 1:6-9): the gospel of grace may not be added to or subtracted from. He warns the Corinthians that a deceiver comes preaching "another Jesus," "a different spirit," and "a different gospel" (2 Corinthians 11:3-4) — a counterfeit can look very much like the real thing. John commands us not to "believe every spirit, but test the spirits" (1 John 4:1), and the test he gives centers on Christ: whether one confesses that "Jesus Christ has come in the flesh" (1 John 4:2), truly God and truly man. And Jude urges us to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3) — there is a fixed apostolic gospel, and later "revelations" that change it are to be rejected.

All of these come down to two questions we will call the root-test, for the whole tree of faith grows from them. First: Who is Jesus? Is He the eternal God the Son, truly God and truly man? Second: How is a person saved? By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone — or by works? Get these two right, and the tree is sound; get either one wrong at the root, and it is another tree and another gospel, however much of the bark may look the same.

How We Will Study Them

Our method in every unit will be the same, and it is a method of both honesty and love. First, we will state each group's beliefs fairly, in their own words and from their own sources, not from caricatures or rumors. This is simply the Golden Rule applied to disagreement: we describe others as we would want to be described. Second, we will test the root by Scripture — asking the two questions and letting the Word of God render the verdict. Third, we will aim at the person redemptively. When Paul stood among the idols and philosophers of Athens, he did not simply denounce them; he reasoned with them, quoted their own poets, and pointed them to the risen Christ (Acts 17:22-31). That is our aim too: not merely to refute an error, but to win a person.

A Redemptive Aim

So this is not a course in suspicion, and still less in pride. If we come to it looking down on others, we have already failed. The same grace that found us is the grace we long for them to find. Many who are caught in cults are sincere, moral, and devout — often more zealous than we are — and many who follow the world's religions are seeking God as best they know how. Our task is twofold, and we must hold both parts together: to hold fast the true gospel without compromise, and to reach out to every person with genuine love. We mark the error precisely so that we may reclaim the people. As we begin, let us fix our aim on that goal: to know the truth, to speak it in love, and to see men and women brought home to the true and living Christ.

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