[OBW]

And there Z goes again. If the word is not used in the scripture it can't be used.

The problem with looking at the list is that, by definition, there is an aspect of many of those in play for any Christian group. At least in a small way.

But to be a "cult of Christianity" it has to be something beyond the basic.

For example, having strong leadership that is followed is actually important. But leadership that is unwilling to accept question or criticism is a problem. Even the RCC is not as hard about things as the so-called local churches.

And there is a difference between a novel notion "springing" off of a scripture that is made into a "great idea." It is when it becomes an important doctrine held up as a differentiator or a "must believe" that it becomes a problem.

But when the special leader spends the bulk of his teaching emphasizing the differentiators — the peculiarities that others will not accept — and scares his people into staying or being "bankrupt" relative to Christ, then you are getting there.

Of course, using the term "cult" is problematic in discussions with the people who are mired in a system that you want to say is one. Just saying the word tends to cause their ears to close to further input. So even if it is a classic cult, there is little benefit in tossing the word around.

As a note, I recently heard my dad say that someone he used to do some service with at the LRC here would occasionally say that he was sure he was going to the little dark room for 1,000 years. That is the lot for anyone who is not just absolutely rock-solid on fire for the LRC. At least his understanding of it.

Some may argue that this is not the teaching of Lee or the LRC, but it must be because of the number of people who grind it out year-after-year, hanging on in the hopes of avoiding the LRC's purgatory. Or when they can't do it any more, they just give up on everything and stay home depressed. Hard to say that the definition of "cult" doesn't apply in a case like that. When so many of your members are in that kind of state, there is something seriously wrong and it isn't just those poor downtrodden members.