What are the markings of a Christian cult? It’s important to be aware of them. I am by no means an expert. But I certainly have some thoughts.
In the past I’ve touched on my brief stint with Herbert W. Armstrong’s World Wide Church of God cult. For numerous reasons it was a cult, though I didn’t recognize it then. Do cult members ever recognize their condition while they’re in it?
I was in my early teens when I first heard Garner Ted Armstrong talk about evolution on The World Tomorrow radio program. He got my immediate attention because I was being taught evolution at school. It bothered me that it contradicted Genesis (despite Theistic Evolution apologetics). The priests I knew at the time were no help.
Armstrong appeared to be a breath of fresh air. Alongside evolution he talked about prophecy. Naturally this whetted my appetite for the prophetic. Pretty soon I was reading the monthly magazine, taking the Bible Correspondence course and became a member.
However, the wagon wheels soon became wobbly. Garner Ted Armstrong was excommunicated, and certain doctrines began to be revised. It was only years after I left the cult that I learned what had been going on behind the scenes.
Garner Ted Armstrong was plagued with sexual sin (adultery) which the church covered. It was only when he directly challenged his father that he was thrown out of the church. It wasn’t just a challenge to Herbert’s leadership. As shocking as this is, Garner Ted had discovered that his father was committing incest with Ted’s sister, Herbert’s daughter.
In the following years there were many schisms. It emerged that the senior Armstrong was a tyrant; given to financial excesses; was habitually drunk and considered himself to be The Modern Apostle of God. Any question to his rule was fatal.
Doctrines were drawn from various sources e.g., Adventism. For example he denied the Trinity and taught that Sunday worship was of the Antichrist. He claimed his organization was the One True Church. People who left would be annihilated (no hell). People who dissented were treated as pariahs, silenced and summarily excommunicated.
Herbert Armstrong was a dictator, suspicious and secretive, intolerant of censure. He surrounded himself with an inner sanctum of bodyguards who would carry out his dirty work for him. Dissenters were bullied and shamed into silence, or into leaving.
Are you currently in a setting in which the leader somewhat fits the WWCOG modus operandi?
Does the leader of your group claim special knowledge of the Bible by virtue of background or special studies? How often have his teachings been peer reviewed? Have you done your homework and set aside hero worship (we all have heroes, don’t we?)? Do you hang on every word without question?
Even where doctrines tick all the correct essential boxes, how does your pastor-teacher react to criticism, legitimate or otherwise? Do you see grace or spite? Do you see love and patience, or anger? Would you feel comfortable approaching this person with a strong personal concern?
More recently, I’ve seen a troubling video rebuttal by a popular Christian leader against a former associate. The issue was doctrinal and I agreed with the leader’s position. I was able to consult a Systematic Theology and find the answer to the dilemma in minutes. The rebuttal ought to have been short and included a loving exhortation. Instead it was an hour-long personal attack on his former associate.
This wasn’t about discernment. It was an exercise in vindictiveness.
This person once railed against a Christian scholar presumably because the latter dared to publicly contradict him on an issue of Greek grammar. The former mocked the latter’s Greek accreditation, inviting laughter from his audience. Yet the former does not posses formal accreditation from an institution, has never formally taught Greek, or written any peer-reviewed books which use it.
Is this the fruit of the Spirit?
On other occasions he has vilified pastors and individuals in ministry calling them crackpots, heretics and other things. He falsely accuses one pastor of teaching a heretical position on the Atonement, and has mercilessly attacked the sincerity of a Christian still young in the faith.
Where is the gentleness and love? Again, is this the fruit of the Spirit?
This is a form of cultish behavior – where any criticism generates anger and spitefulness. People like this can tend to be narcissists. They consider themselves elite guardians of truth and full of pride. If you are involved in such a group, wake up and run! You’re in danger of being affected by a spirit of hatred and division, cloaked in discernment.
Read what the Epistles have to say about, grace, patience and love. Also read the biographies of the great pastors of the past. They stood steadfast for the truth yet defended it in humbleness and love, often under great duress: Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Charles Spurgeon, John Knox, Jonathan Edwards and Robert Bruce etc. Listen to what Sinclair Ferguson wrote about Prof. John Murray:
As to his character there was, first, his deep humility before God…There was, second, his boldness. He feared God and therefore feared no man.
Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing. For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit. 1Peter 3:8-10
Maranatha!
Further reading:
Christ’s Call to Reform the Church
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