WHAT IS A CULT? (PART II)

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CULT AND A RELIGION IN THE BIBLE?

If you followed me carefully in my first presentation, you will realize that I did not draw a distinction between mainstream Religions and Cults. To be honest, I don’t think there is a difference between a Cult and a Religion. To understand my point of view, let me start by telling you that the Bible has Cults that God always worked with, worked through and worked against. Let me say this again; the Bible has Cults that God always worked with, worked through and worked against. (I will explain what I mean by this, later).

The Bible has Cults in the Old Testament, the main one being Judaism. In the New Testament, it is the Jerusalem Sect. There are many others but I will focus on these due to their effect on the theological understanding that shapes modern day Cults. When God first revealed himself to Abraham, it was within the Patriarchal Cult of his father, Terah. God had to lead him away from this Cult with his new belief system (Genesis 12).

The Patriarchal Religion/Cult was an ancestral religion. It was ‘the god of our father’, not the universal God, Yahweh. That is why sentiments like: ‘the god of Abraham, god of Isaac and god of Jacob’ is a regular motif in the Old Testament (Genesis 32:9; Exodus 2:4; 3:6, 15-16; 4:5).

When Yahweh revealed himself to Abraham, he was simply incorporated among the other gods that Abraham already worshipped. It was not only these gods that Yahweh became part of but even rituals of the ancestral religion like circumcision, sacrifices, incest, misogyny, killings, wars and looting of possessions from the weak by the strong, etc. All these were done in the name of Yahweh.

Apart from Yahweh, the patriarchal religion had what we call household gods. A case in point is when the daughters (wives to Jacob) of Laban, uncle to Jacob, stole the family gods and Laban pursued them. This patriarchal religion is no different from the African Tradition Religion that co-exists with the modern missionary religions like Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism, Orthodoxy, etc in many families.

My friend, Tamale Mirundi, exhibits this when he claims to be a Catholic (he doesn’t leave his rosary at home, always has it around his neck), yet he emphasizes the power of ancestral spirits and shrines when solving his problems. In fact, for him, he considers the Catholic religion to be a Passport and the ancestral religion to be a National ID. This is what the patriarchal religion was like in the Bible. With all due respect, this was a Cult and so are the modern religions.

The Patriarchal religion evolved into another cultic religion known as Judaism. Judaism was a cultic religion whose roots drew from the patriarchal religion (Abrahamic covenants and promises) but centered on Moses as the founder. Judaism, unlike the patriarchal religion, emphasized the worship of one God (Yahweh) and dismissed these other household gods.

But like all cults, Judaism developed four doctrinal statements that diverted the attention of the worshippers from Yahweh as the central figure of worship to these as a means of Salvation. These doctrines were:

• Yahweh’s Servants (Abraham, Moses and King David)
• Torah (Sabbath, Purity Laws, Dietary Laws, Civil and Moral Laws, Priesthood).
• Covenant (Noahic, Abrahamic, Palestinian, Mosaic, Davidic, and the New)
• Temple (Sanctuary, Shekinah, Solomon’s Temple – 1^st and 2^nd Temple, Herod’s Temple,  Synagogues)

Judaism was built around these themes to the extent that they (doctrines) consumed Yahweh. An ordinary believer could not have an experience with God (Yahweh) unless they went through these traditions and doctrines. Judaism had initiation rituals like circumcision, ritualistic baths, sacrifices, dress codes, and special diets. Judaism became too staunch and got buried deep in these human traditions that it even lost campus on who God really was.

The Jewish culture that God intended to work with and through, in order to reach other primitive cultures of the world, built a Cult known as Judaism around Yahweh that eventually clashed with God himself before he(God) went against it. Because of this Cult, prophets evolved and started preaching against Judaism. When you read the Old Testament carefully, you will realize that God struggled more with Judaism than he did with other non-believing nations. What was supposed to be symbolic and to signify God turned into an object of worship, a dummy-god in this Cult.

God instituted the sacrificial system to signal the coming ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but the Judaism Cult decided to establish animal sacrifices as way of Salvation (Hebrews 10:4). The Temple that was supposed to represent the omnipresence of the glory of God turned out to be an idol worshipped by Judaism (Mathew 24:1-2; John 2:18-22; Mark 14:58).

The Old Testament wars that Yahweh participated in for his glorification purposes turned out to focus more on Judaism and less on Yahweh. The on and off exiles were harbingers to this Cult but unfortunately, they did not understand until God launched the final exile to Babylon which operated as a resolution to this Cult (2Chronicles 36, Jeremiah 26-29).

One would think that after this 70 year exile, the Jews had learnt something but Judaism instead gave birth to more cultic movements like; the Scribes (Mathew 2:4; 12:38; Mark 2:16; Luke 5:30), the Pharisees (Mathew 3:7; 16:1; 23:23; Mark 7:1-5), the Sadducees (Acts 23:6-10; Mathew 16:1; Mark 12:18;Luke 20:27), the Essenes (Luke 22:10-12), the Qumran Community (John the Baptist, Isaiah 40:3; Mathew 3:1-14; 11:11), the Zealots (Judas Iscariot and Simon Peter, Acts 9:1-2; 22:3-5, 19-20; 26:9-11; Galatians 1:14; 1Timothy 1:13; Luke 6:15; Acts 1:13) the Herodians (Matthew 22:16; Mark 3:6; 12:13), the Zadokites (Ezekiel 44:15;), and many others.

Like Protestantism and Roman Catholicism gave birth to many existing Cults today, Judaism also gave birth to all the above listed cults and more. Throughout the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, he was fighting Judaism together with these Cults (Luke 4:16-30). Jesus’ cry in Mathew 23:37-39 speaks volumes. Judaism that was supposed to represent God, but instead it betrayed him and killed him. John 1:11 “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him” was fulfilled.

Thank God the cult of Judaism was dissolved by the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, after the resurrection, another Cult evolved which we Theologians call the JERUSALEM SECT. It is important that we understand that the term ‘Sect’ is synonymous with the term ‘Cult’.

The Jerusalem Cult’s evolvement can be traced in chapters 2-7 of the book of Acts. Jesus has ascended, he has promised disciples the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8) to empower them for mission. In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit indeed comes, he surely empowers them and they preach in foreign languages and appeal to masses.

But again, instead of them moving out, they restricted the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Jews and whoever was willing to be initiated into Judaism. They stayed in the upper chamber for over 14yrs (Galatians 2:1), and their message was: we touched, we saw, and walked with Jesus, he resurrected, therefore go and sell all your property and come and wait for him here.

Just like any cultic religion today, they had no reasonable explanation for their teachings but baseless promises and membership emphasis. They taught that Jesus was going to take only those who belonged to their sect, and he was not taking anyone outside it. It turned out to be a Cult built around Peter and John (Acts 3:1-4, 11; Acts 4:13, 19; 8:14) and James (Acts 15:13; 21:18). People sold all they had in hopes of the coming Jesus Christ yet this was a wrong teaching propagated by these disciples.

Just like the William Miller movement and many other cults in history ordered people to sell their property for Jesus was coming, so did this cult in the book of Acts. People sold all they had and brought everything to the disciples (Acts 2:44-45; 4:35, 37) with the hope that Jesus was coming yet Jesus had not set a date. This Jerusalem sect proved to be no threat to the status quo (Judaism) since they never practically disagreed with the norms and traditions of Judaism (Acts 5:32-39).

These disciples, unlike the Jesus they followed, were accepted in the Jerusalem Temple and there was no threat to their lives like it was with Jesus. They practiced all temple rituals like baths, special hours of prayers, etc. In chapter 5, people start doubting this cult and some begin withholding their property. A case in point is the couple of Ananias and Sapphira who were killed and their death was attributed to the Holy Spirit, but we all know God never kills anyone for not selling their property.

All these are signs of cults that we have witnessed in our generation. People find it difficult to believe this narrative that the disciples begun a Cult after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, but I always ask; Why is it that we see the Peter’s sermon about Jesus in Acts 2 attracting masses without any commotion but Stephen’s sermon in Acts 7 about the same Jesus leads him to being stoned? Did these guys preach the same thing under one name Jesus?

Do you now understand why we have many JESUS-JESUS Cultic movements? How come that, after the stoning of Stephen, we see Philip (Acts 8) running for his life but we don’t see any other disciple of the eleven becoming a fugitive? The answer to all these questions is one, the disciples had started another cult that, in teaching, agreed with the Judaizers, and that is how they managed to routinely worship in the Jerusalem Temple without any problem (Acts 3:1).

To further understand this issue, we need to look at the conversion of Paul (Acts 9), who was a very religious man and a Pharisee of Pharisees (Philippians 3:4-6). This man went to Jerusalem to meet the disciples and inquired about the Theology of their belief system but they literally had no explanation apart from merging Jesus and Judaism (Galatians 2:6). Paul then decided he was going to begin to study the revelation of God throughout history and the events surrounding the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and that is how Christ revealed Christianity to him.

Paul launched his Christian base in Antioch where he always set-off to preach the gospel to all people (Gentiles inclusive). While the Jerusalem sect agreed that Paul too was called by Christ, they circuitously disagreed with him theologically since the Pauline Theology dismissed all Judaism traditions and detached them from the true gospel. When Paul speaks of the pillars of the Jerusalem church in Galatians 2, it is not too difficult to see that he (Paul) is against them (Galatians 2:11).

Paul speaks against them with ill-concealed sarcasm in the repetitive words like “reputed to be something” and “those of repute” (Gal. 2:2, 6, 9). The rivalry between Paul and Peter is most strongly apparent in these chapters of Galatians and 1 Corinthians. The tension between Paul and the Jerusalem sect was not personal but theological. The Cult at Jerusalem preached about Jesus Christ and, unto him, they added Jewish traditions. On the other hand, Paul, preached Jesus Christ alone and dismissed these Jewish traditions.

A case in point is when Paul makes a statement on circumcision which is rightly understood by the Jews as a dismissal of its significance. “Circumcision is nothing and circumcision is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God is everything“. (1Corinthians 11:19). In another incidence like when he was in Galatians, Paul teaches that the Temple can be set aside and the people itself can become the spiritual temple. (1Corinthians 6:19).

These teachings and more by Paul set him apart from the Jerusalem sect and the Judaizers kept storming his churches in his absence to mislead people. Eventually, this resulted into what we know as the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15. Paul recognized this cult because he knew that though it was a cult, God had worked with it to a certain degree in his mission. He (Paul) acknowledges the tradition that Jesus had a core group of eleven disciples (1Corinthians 15.5), and that Jesus’ brother James was a significant leader in the Jerusalem church (1Corinthians 5.7; Galatians 1.19), but very curiously associates him with Peter and John (Galatians 2.9).

The Jerusalem cult, like many modern cultic religions got many things right. They believed in the value of the law but assigned it a wrong duty, they believed in the resurrection from the dead, the need for faith in Christ, that Jesus was the Messiah and that he was divine. On the surface, they were as orthodox as they come. Yet, Paul had a dispute with them. It would be easy to charge Paul with being an obscurantist, a dogmatist, someone looking for a theological quarrel, and someone who was being divisive in the Body of Christ.

The Jerusalem “cult” was a small subset of the church in Jerusalem which insisted on the keeping of the law in addition to faith in Christ for Salvation (Acts 15:1). Just like modern religious institutions, the commitment of the Jerusalem cult was more on the preservation of Judaism than anything else. In the process of seeking to preserve Judaism, the Judaizers either deliberately or unwittingly perverted the gospel of Jesus Christ from a gospel of Salvation by Faith to one of Faith plus Works.

The preachers from this cult preached by these words:  “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). Note two key themes in their gossip: Moses and the Circumcision custom.

Friends, a cult is a perversion of the gospel, based upon an unholy devotion to a person, a principle/custom, or both. These were devotees to Moses and the circumcision custom. Just as many today are to the founders of their religions like the Pope, Muhamad, Ellen G White, etc. The message they presented was a mandate and they were dogmatic in the manner they presented. It was you are either with us or you are doomed. These are the clear earmarks of a cult.

Friends, a cult is not determined by size but by what it teaches. Many people assume that because their religion is an established institution and a politically represented, recognized and reputable body, therefore it cannot be a cult. But according to the Bible, this is not true. A cult is a ‘Cult’ due to what it teaches in relation to what the Bible really teaches. We do not define a cult due to its size (large or small), how long it has existed (historical or recent), or what political structures recommend or castigate it.

However, it is important to understand that God still works with, works through and sometimes works against these religious cults. God works with them for sociological matters because religions are systems of governance. And he works through them in revealing himself to his people because religions teach about God and the importance of good works and many people discover more about God through these structures. Just like Martin Luther appreciated the Gospel by contrasting it with the Roman Catholic deception, many have discovered the true gospel by discovering how deceptive the doctrines of these cults are.

Personally, God worked through the Seventh-day Adventist cult to reveal to me the true Gospel and that is how I became a member of Christianity. At some point, God works against them when their theology and practice hurts and misleads people on the issue of Salvation and who God really is. Look at how Jesus addressed the issue of religious cults.

While religious cults teach that only those in their groups or institutions will be saved, Jesus stands outside and says: “I have other sheep that are not of this group” (John 10:16). Religious cults have many shepherds, (their leaders and a deity they claim to follow) that they listen to, but Jesus said: “They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd”. Religious cults do not believe in Jesus alone and only but they add traditions unto him. However, Jesus says: “you do not believe because you are not my sheep” (John 10:26).

Religious cults have registers and membership books in which they register and de-register, but Jesus needs no register for he says: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). Religious Cults give no eternal life assurance, it is always tension and salvation is a probability because the insurance of one’s salvation is works. However, in Christianity, eternal life is an assurance and the insurance of this salvation is one’s faith not works (John 10:28-29).

You do not have to leave these religious cults, after all they are just social clubs we belong to, you just need to be a follower of Jesus Christ alone and only and not any other person or philosophy. Next I will handle the Characteristics of a Cult.

God Bless you, I invoke TRUTH, REASON, and FAITH

Am Pr. I.T.White

The Gospel Hawker