WHAT IS A CULT?
I will start with a very terse revised definition: a cult is a trap, it is a net, and it is a snare, disguised as a worthy cause—be it religious or otherwise—so that the unsuspecting are taken, netted and caught; it is willfully and knowingly set, and escape from it is not easy.
What is this thing, the cult? If we could be clear about it, it might help you be a little wary of that charming invitation, that appealing guy or gal who knows how to play on your imagination, how to help you imagine things that may really be the purest fictions operating beneath the surface. It also pays to be wary of flatterers–cults thrive by using such means. Defining cults depends on nailing down definitions of the two key ingredients: the talented deceiver and those willing to be deceived. And one mustn’t forget that the deceiver has above all deceived himself, but then those who join have, in their way, done the same thing. But if you could know it when you see it, that might protect you from big trouble. So it’s worth it to work out an updated definition. The stakes can be high. Imagine yourself caught in a net like the two hapless ones in the adjoining engraving. If you look carefully you can see one figure fleeing—you can consider him to be the cult leader. He’s looking back at those he’s trapped in his net and they are well-trapped—there’s no easy getting out, but happily, an angelic being has come along to free them. In a way, that’s how I got freed—by the invisible and gracious mercy of God.
Since my first aim here is to provide a thorough—and personal—definition of the term “cult,” I will start with a very terse revised definition: a cult is a trap, it is a net, and it is a snare, disguised as a worthy cause—be it religious or otherwise—so that the unsuspecting are taken, netted and caught; it is willfully and knowingly set, and escape from it is not easy.
How is that for a fresh start? But let’s look more carefully beyond this terse beginning. What constitutes this thing, the cult? What is it built out of, or what is it built from?
It’s quite simple, in one sense: it requires only two main ingredients. First there’s the dumb, sheep-like human being, ripe and ready to be shorn, that is, to be deceived—and devoured, too. And secondly, there’s the wolf-like person in sheep’s clothing, who, disguised in his deceptive garb, can so easily do his work among these “sheep” without their much realizing what’s going on.
What’s a Cult? Chapter 1
Defining the Cult The Oxford English Dictionary offers this definition of the cult: “a small group of people who have extreme religious beliefs and who are not part of any established religion.” They illustrate the term with this example: “Their son ran away from home...
What’s a Cult? Chapter 2
The Cult Member But what of the other key ingredient constituting a cult—the followers? P.T. Barnum is supposedly the source of the phrase, “There’s a sucker born every minute,” and though the saying is probably not originally his, the notion that there are...
What is a Cult? Chapter 3
Now one key, and perhaps the main one to defining the cult and its deceptive leader, is to know this person and his group never present themselves with a sign out front reading, “You are now entering a cult.” There will never be a sign around the leader’s neck that says “Wolf in Disguise.”
