Dr. R. De Ridder’s review of the year 1979 in the CRC Yearbook for 1980 commented on the “spectacular rise and unexpected success of new religions and cults. The tragedy in Guyana focussed world attention on the demonic forces behind such movements. It is still difficult to understand why the youth of conservative churches (including our own denomination) are attracted to these movements. There are few signs of readiness to undertake an honest and thorough look as to why this is so, however, and the questions raised have to this time been too easily dismissed” (p. 392). Rev. John Piersma, pastor of the First CRC of Sioux Center, Iowa, focusses our attention on these matters.
In recent years we have become increasingly aware of the rising tide of religious cults in the United States and Canada.
Reactions at first ranged from amusement to shock as we saw the shaven heads and weird sounds of the Hare Krishna group, the benign smiles of Reverend Moon and his followers, “the Moonies,” the intriguing predictions of the psychics, the captivating recommendations of the daily horoscope, the fascinating moves of the Ouija boards, the mesmerizing films on demonic possession and exorcism, the impressive calm of the gurus and their Transcendental Meditation, and the sobering reports of the excesses of satan worship!
Few, except for some Bible–believing, evangelical Christians (I assume that we still acknowledge t hat we are part of that classification), viewed these religious aberrations with much suspicion or concern. Unless one as a pastor, sees the effect of such movements on some particular person in his congregation, they seem far removed from us. Some disturbed parents tried to alert us! They did get involved, some even having their children “deprogrammed.”
The general population, however, seemed to feel that the First Amendment to the Constitution so guaranteed the right of religious freedom that no one should monitor these cults, even when reports indicated that something should be done.
The terrible tragedy of Guyana and the 911 people (!) of the People’s Temple who lost their lives under the leadership of Rev. Jim Jones in a mass murder and suicide pact awakened us to the tremendous dangers that cultist activities and ideas can have. We are told now that prior to this great tragedy, reports had come to our State Department of enforced hunger, beatings, threats of death for defectors, and other horrors.
Like most other American Christians we deplore the current secular and apostate religious environment that led to this awful scene. Because there are so many religious cults out to capture the minds and hearts of people on our continent, it is imperative that we understand more fully the dangers connected with these groups. Let us take a brief look at the following questions: Why do cult groups exist? How do they develop? How are they recognized? What lessons can we learn from this recent tragedy?
1. WHY DO THEY EXIST?
Many reasons are given for the present influence and prosperity of groups such as those led by the late Mr. Jones. It has been suggested that the church is at fault by moving away from truly Biblical principles and their traditional values, and by failing to meet the real spiritual hunger and psychological needs of people today.
Some have suggested that the pressures and complications of our present secular and technological age have created an environment in which false Messiahs can easily arise, play on the emotions of people, and offer simplistic solutions to complex problems. Others say that scores of people face deep insecurities, loneliness, feel alienated, unfulfilled and even rejected. A religious sect of this kind offers a sense of community, a sense of “belonging,” a sense of identity, and a sense of purpose.
Still others suggest that an all-pervasive sense of despair permeates North American society, offering an environment in which charismatic leaders can bring some sense of hope, no matter how false it may be. The failure of science and technology to bring deep personal satisfaction; the economic pressures with which people are faced today; the political realities of our present world–system; all contribute toward making people vulnerable, even weak, unless they have the reality of a genuine faith in Jesus Christ in their life.
Our Lord said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” We may feed the hungry, give jobs to the chronically un–and underemployed, care for the sick, minister to the lonely and despondent, devise social programs to meet certain social ills, all of which should be done. But unless man’s needs are not seen as religious, as related to man’s basic need for God, people will chase after false gods and follow false Messiahs to try to satisfy the deep longing of the human heart.
Of course, the totally-depraved sinner will always look for consolation in that which does not satisfy. We are dealing, however, with a different question. When we face that question we must confess that today’s church has not always provided a clear verbal declaration of the good news of the Gospel in such a way that believers will be saved from despair and society profoundly influenced by their presence and witness. Weak churches and faltering Christians are not much help to anyone in the struggles and agonies of man’s pilgrimage through this vale of tears!
2. HOW DO THESE CULTS DEVELOP?
Many cults grow because of what they do with t he Biblical revelation. Someone has suggested that there are three ways in which cults treat the Bible, and all three lead to error—they add to, they subtract from, or they reinterpret the Biblical revelation.
This is not to say that all cults that develop are actually based upon the Bible. However, many of them use the Bible as a point of departure.
The cults that add to Biblical revelation always claim that they have additional revelation not contained in the Bible. The founding father of the cult, or his immediate or more prominent followers, usually claim that a new special revelation has been received from God, and that it somehow enhances or completes the Biblical revelation. By clearly mixing this new revelation with the truth of God’s Word, the new counterfeit religion takes on an appearance of reality and acceptability, and its followers feel that theirs is the only true and complete knowledge of spiritual things. Just as counterfeit money appears to be the “real thing,” but is not, so, too, the counterfeit religion includes just enough truth to make it appear genuine and to attract some who lack a keen sense of spiritual discernment.
Those who subtract from Biblical revelation carefully omit areas of Biblical doctrine that are offensive to the sensibilities of people. These cultist leaders talk about the love of God, but not His holiness; they talk about the justice of God, but not His judgment; they talk about heaven, but not hell. In other words, any doctrine that may be offensive is omitted.
A third source out of which cults arise is “truth” that is based upon reinterpretation. Some religious leaders take Biblical terms, and, by reinterpreting their meaning, actually pour in their own meaning. The simple meaning of great Biblical doctrines can be changed, diluted, and may be made totally contrary to what was originally meant. Many good people are therefore deceived into thinking that this religious leader is “orthodox” or truly Bible-believing when, in reality, he is a heretic.
For example, it takes keen Biblical discernment to pin-point the error of Herbert Armstrong. A casual listener, lacking good Biblical knowledge and an adequate doctrinal background, can easily be swept along by his most eloquent presentations that have the appearance of truth, but are based upon erroneous ideas and the evil devisings of a heretical mind.
Another reason for the easy development of cults is that man is inescapably and irresistibly religious. He is a creature of God. He has a certain desire for truth. He seeks answers. Instead of turning to Biblical revelation in faith, fallen man creates religions after his own spiritual character in order to meet his inner needs. In his search for God, in his quest for truth he concocts religions of his own making, religions that are marked by hatred for the Truth and love for the world. After the turbulence of the 60’s many have fallen for the world religions that have been introduced in North America, either in whole or in part. We are now accustomed to the idea that Cassius Clay is “Mohammed Ali,” and that the last score was a basket by “Khareem Abdul Jabbar!”
In the United States one of the more prominent contributing causes to the rise of cultism has been the decline of expository preaching from the pulpits of America. Dr. James M. Boise, pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, has declared that good expository preaching has declined because of “a prior decline in a belief in the Bible as the authoritative and inerrant (italics inserted) Word of God on the part of the church‘s theologians, seminary professors, and those ministers trained by them.”
Dr. Boice adds that, quite simply, it is “a loss of confidence in the existence of a sure Word of God. Nothing is sadder than this loss of true authority, particularly when the preacher does not even know it.”
Dr. Dean Kelly, in his book Why Conservative Churches are Growing, has set forth clearly that people are seeking answers for the great questions of life—Who am I? Where did I come from? What is life all about? Why am I here? Where am I going when life is all over here on earth? When answers to these basic questions are not given by the preachers in established churches, people may turn to others for answers. There is no substitute for strong, Biblical, expository preaching that addresses contemporary issues in such a way that the hearer responds within his own heart—“that’s my problem!”; “that’s my need”; “that’s the solution!”
There was a time when the Reformed community and the Christian Reformed pulpit could claim exception to this situation. It is doubtful whether they could claim that today. There is uncertainty, indifference, sometimes real disdain with respect to the nature and effectiveness of preaching today. All kinds of gimmicks are being introduced, all kinds of techniques are being tried to “make the Word interesting.” Meanwhile cult leaders dare to speak boldly, eloquently, seriously and lengthily.* They believe in the exposition of their ideas, even if the things they say are not easy to be grasped. And they grow . . .
3. HOW ARE CULTS RECOGNIZED?
In his booklet, The Marks of a Cult, Dr. David Breese outlines several marks which clearly identify a cult. We can use his listing of these characteristics, and many of his comments under them.
a. Extra-Biblical revelation. Virtually every cult that I know of gives token respect to the Bible. After acknowledging the value and importance of the Bible, the cult usually goes on to announce some kind of subsequent revelation that not only adds to Scripture, but usually has a way of cancelling out certain teachings of Scripture in favor of this “new” revelation from God.
This is not only characteristic of the better known cults such as Mormonism and the Jehovah’s Witnesses, but of even the new rash of cults that have sprung up in more recent years, such as the Moonies (the Unification Church). Contemporary cult leaders claim that they have special authority because “God spoke to me last week, or last year.”
Cult writings are replete with accounts of some revelation from God apart from the writings of Holy Scripture. The Apostle Paul warns us against any who would bring us another Gospel even though that Gospel were brought by an angel from God (Gal. 1:8, 9).
We must recognize that the final revelation from God has been given through His Son Jesus Christ and through His Word, the sacred Scriptures. Even under the intense pressures of modern neo-Pentecostalism (its jargon and patterns have crept even into churches like our own!) we must affirm that the canon of sacred Scripture is closed—or play into the hands of the cults!
b. Salvation by works. Virtually every cult is characterized by offering to its prospects the true knowledge of God or the promise of heaven (in some form). However, you must earn it! Eternal life is not dependent altogether upon the grace of God but upon human responsibility. Moonies are moved to herculean efforts in witness and fund raising because they have to pay “indemnity.”
The Bible makes it very clear that the Gospel of Christ is a free gift of God. It is by grace alone. “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8, 9). Generally the religious cult presents no such Gospel. Its message is almost always one which results in slavish servitude to a set of obligations and practises ordered by some law or laws it has concocted.
The glaring example of the willingness of sinful people to accept such bondage is the row upon row of dead bodies at Guyana! People will literally do anything to pay for their own “salvation” (Micah 6:6, 7).
Who are better equipped to resist this false Gospel than we who are known as t he proponents of “the doctrines of grace,” as the whole-hearted professors of the T-U-L-I-P doctrines?**
c. An uncertain hope. Seldom do cults present a sure hope of eternal life. The issue of personal salvation is never settled. The cult leader is interested in producing continuing obligations rather than spiritual liberation. His followers are kept in hopeless bondage because they can never feel that theirs is a secure, saving relationship with God.
“For the member of the cult there is always more to do, more to pay,” says Dr. Breese. There can never be a feeling that you have done all that you should do in order to gain the acceptance of God. The cultist never knows exactly where he stands with God.
How different from Biblical revelation! Our security rests squarely upon what Christ has done, not upon what we have done or are doing. Our hope of eternal life is therefore certain and sure because it is based upon a divine work rather than upon .human effort.
d. Presumptuous messianic leadership. Certainly one of the most characteristic marks of a cult is the dominant presence of a self–appointed “Messiah,” “guru” or other leader who presents himself as divinely appointed with special authority, asking people to bring obeisance and obedience to him. Deliberate efforts are made by such leaders to create the impression that here for once is uncompromising dedication to truth (“they don’t want this to get out”) and unusual saintliness (if you help me, God’s man, you help Him).
Leaders of this kind cannot help but diminish the person and position of Christ as well as the integrity and authority of the Bible. Often these messianic human leaders use the powers of their own intelligence and charm to impose their will and directives on the ignorant (our world has no shortage of spiritual and doctrinal ignorance!). Time magazine in a recent article on Jim Jones pointed to the fact that he had a messianic complex. The story is told that on one occasion he threw his Bible to the floor in angry disgust, asserting that the people were paying more attention to it than to what he had to say.
e. Doctrinal ambiguity. Often cults are not willing to carefully define their system of doctrine and expose it to the eyes of the general public. They make things “sound good” to their hearers, but when it comes down to specifics the details are usually ambiguous.
This is the reason why one can listen at length to representatives of the cults on the radio and television and never be sure what they are saying. In contrast, a reputable Christian leader is one who preaches the Word and seeks to be faithful in presenting the historical, grammatical interpretation of Scripture.
Incidentally, we would urge OUTLOOK readers to make use of Dr. Joel Nederhood’s radio sermon series on the doctrine of Scripture, entitled “Understanding the Bible.” It is a prime example of the difference between cultist and sound Christian leaders hip! You can get a copy by writing to THE BACK TO GOD HOUR, 6555 W. College Dr., Palos Heights, IL 60463.
f. Denunciation of others. The cultic leader usually presents his new type of teaching as the only truth and solemnly denounces all others as either false or ignorant with respect to what he is presenting. Frequently he in unwilling to appear in public debate or to answer questions from perceptive Christian scholars.
There is a fine but real line of difference between the proper Christian and Biblical attitude toward others and that of the absolutistic cult leader. This is not to say that if a Calvinist criticizes an Arminian, or vice-versa, that we are necessarily seeing a sample of the thing here scored. It is the difference between mere toleration or outright denunciation and an absolutism which asserts or suggests that the “only Christians” in the world are those of our group.
g. A wrong view of Christ. Cults often are marked by a defective Christology. They usually deny either the true deity or the true humanity of Jesus Christ. The central truth of Christianity is related to the question, “What think ye of the Christ?” The apostle John, especially in his first epistle, goes right to the heart of the problem when he addresses himself to the cult of his day—Gnosticism. About as severe a test as any for the cults is what they do with Jesus Christ. It seems impossible for cultic leaders to give full due to “the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
h. Entangling organizational structure. Cults often demand total commitment by converts to the organization and its complicated set of human strictures. This is not to imply that loyalty is bad. Blind loyalty, however, that leads to extremes is very unfortunate.
This is usually a central characteristic of a cult. As a result followers think of little else except their involvement with the movement and its human leaders. In the tragedy of Guyana Jim Jones required a slavish loyalty to himself, which ultimately led to brutality, murder and even mass suicide.
i. Financial exploitation. Cults are “big business,” and almost without exception a cult plays upon and financially exploits its people in any and every way possible. Moonies are often required to bring in $100 per day, and all of us know the high-pressure, end-justifies-the–means tactics of the Hare Krishna movement (you can’t travel through America’s more prominent airports without seeing and being approached by its representatives).
This can go to extreme lengths. Jim Jones exploited his followers by getting them to contribute their entire Social Security checks, bank accounts, and real estate holdings for his own personal purposes. After all, if the leader is what he says he is, and if the movement is as important as he claims, what is wrong with demanding such devotion? It is not unheard of for a conscienceless religious leader to build for himself a massive, personal financial empire.
In contrast, the New Testament tells us that salvation comes as the free gift of God, that the believer should give as God has prospered him out of a spirit of true thankfulness for the grace bestowed. His giving ought never to be for the personal advantage or gain of some human leader. And the purpose of any responsible Christian organization is to be a faithful steward of God, utilizing funds and resources for His Cause: the glory of His Name as it is realized through the evangelizing of the world, the discipling of believers and t he promotion of His Kingdom.
4. WHAT LESSONS CAN WE LEARN FROM GUYANA?
Marvin Stone in Newsweek magazine wrote the following: “What happened in Guyana should send a message to our priests and ministers—to get out of politics and back into the pulpit; to cease being agents of social and economic reform; and begin again ministering to the soul, for there are quite obviously needs int he affluent society which cannot be filled by food stamps.”
If this means that we ought to leave Christian philanthropy in part three of the Heidelberg Catechism—after the Biblical message concerning man’s plight and after the Biblical instruction as to God’s salvation—we can only approve! No doubt about it, there is in our day a confusion of social and political issues with the main focus of the Gospel, the salvation of God’s people in the way of a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. Our fathers desperately feared “a social Gospel,” and rightly so!
Our first lesson here, however, must be that we cannot divorce “the spiritual” from the rest of life. People like Jim Jones recognize that one can profitably trade upon the indifference of today’s organized churches whose concern is cool toward the needs of soul and body. We need to stress the importance of the traditional offices in the church: the preaching eldership and its proclamation of the whole counsel of God, the ruling eldership and its pastoral concern for and disciplining of the saints, and the diaconal office with its proper understanding of, sympathy for, and assistance with the daily needs of God’s children. Government agencies are always a poor substitute at best for any part of this divinely-ordained program!
In this connection let me repeat that expository preaching must continue to hallmark a soundly Reformed church. While we are definitely concerned about social and political issues, we are most significantly concerned about them in terms of “the pure preaching of God’s Word.” That kind of preaching will not fail to touch on the whole range of human concern and interest!
A second lesson comes in the form of a danger. Many have suggested that Guyana proves that the government was delinquent in its responsibilities toward the People’s Temple encampment in Guyana and the reports that came back from this commune.
There is a danger that we could over–react by asking our government to interfere with the free exercise of religion. As Americans we treasure the freedom of religion guaranteed by our Constitution. As Reformed people we have not been here so long as to forget the oppression endured by our forbears in the struggle for recognition of the free church movement in Europe. This does not make for an easy solution to difficult questions, however.
We want to protect the religious freedom of everyone, and yet somehow we need to prevent a reoccurrence of what happened in Guyana. The problems are occasioned, I think, by the fact that there is so little understanding of the proper role of formal ecclesiastical activity in our society (which gives some the opportunity to pester people in the interests of “religious freedom”), and by the idea that separation of church and state means that anything religious or spiritual in character is as such contraband in American society outside of the church, the home, or a person’s “heart.”
The lesson here can be summarized by saying that we still need to learn how the United States, for example, can grant to people the full right to their religious views without giving people like Jim Jones an opportunity to exploit the pocketbooks and ruin the lives of many! It is obvious that something has gone wrong among us, and we will need much reflection on this difficult problem.
Finally, if there is a third lesson for us as members of the Reformed community it is that we must live in close and careful relationship to the Lord of the church and kingdom! We must resolve to be clear in our declaration of the Gospel, and forthright in expository, doctrinal preaching. We ought to stop resisting the solid tradition which includes “Catechism preaching,” realizing that a well-taught congregation is less subject to the trickery through cultist leaders than one that is untaught. All of us ought to be keenly aware of the fact that satan is alive and well on planet earth. He is doing all he can possibly do to corrupt the minds of people, even through religious means. In his hand cults become a substitute for and antidote to the real thing.
Unfortunately, many professing Christians and/or their children have been drawn into cultist movements because they have abandoned the solid Biblical foundation on which they ought to be standing. Let us determine anew to be true to our Lord and true to His Word!
*A former Moonie told me that Rev. Moon would often speak/or as long as three hours at their Sunday morning services.
**Total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace, perseverance of the saints.