How to tell if you are in cult #3 condemnation of impropriety of a leader is swept under the rug, giving is controlled, loyalty is to the cult first before Christ.

H. When the victim of a sexual abuse case becomes the sinner, and the sexual predator (one of the leadership or leadership favorites) continues with impunity or a slap on the wrist.

Many cults will have sexual abuse problems. Supposedly good churches also have this problem. This is a result of leaders that abuse in other areas, so their sexual appetites enter into their abuse. The treatment of a leader is always different from how they treat a run-of-the-mill member when sexual impropriety happens. For most members, they are chastised and condemned sometimes very strongly and publicly, using public shaming on the person. If the person gives a lot of money, then the matter is ignored. The same passing over for somebody in leadership that sins.

• ch16 Example of the man of God

I. When the financial needs of organization become more important that the action of giving to one another in need.

Cults have a perception of their own self of that their being “god”. Everything that they say in the name of “God”, they mean their group. They are trained to focus so much on promoting and protecting their group and directly focused on their leadership, so that all sins of the leadership are overlooked and never mentioned, much less and public dealing with that sin. We see the Bible being so brutally honest about the sins of the primary believers that it is just a drastic contrast that should very clearly distinguish if we are in something biblical or we are in a cult.

For you meditation, consider the following. Adam and Eve’s sin was not hidden. Most specifically, God did not say “they sinned”, but Eve sinned first being deceived, and Adam sinned to cast his lot in life with her, no matter what was the punishment. Remember, he being perfect still, loved perfectly. Satan knew hitting the weaker of the two would be easiest.

Abraham had various sins with Sarah where he misrepresented her as his sister instead of his wife. Moses killed a man. He smote the rock instead of speaking to it. David had adultery with his top general’s wife, and then caused his death. The list goes on and on. Pet

So the helping of one member to another member is simply discouraged in general. You should give everything that I can squeeze out of you for the group first before giving to somebody else. Even a gift to help somebody in need first must be given to the group, then the group gets PR (public relations advantage) out of the actual giving to that person. Usually it is never to outsiders just members if even that.

J. When the most important qualification for leadership or service is not holiness (Acts 5:1), but loyalty to the organization.

We should be loyal. But our loyalty is first and foremost to God. For those who labor in God’s service, we are not really loyal to them, but rather, we are walking side-by-side WITH THEM, because we are both loyal to God and his work. This perspective is missing in cults. They define “God” as their group. Whatever you would do to God you MUST do to the group.

If you meditate and take the above points with this one, you will see a definite pattern forming. The individuals in the cult, the leaders and foundering are taking the place of God. Yes, they talk about God and about they themselves are God’s servants, but the work of God is blasphemed when some leader sins grossly and he lives with impunity, and it is covered up.

You see the cult (the leaders) are God. If you speak against something improper in the cult, you are attacking God’s servants, i.e. you are attacking God. God would never check on that logic. God’s servants are good examples of the morality of God, they promote God by being good Christians. No where in the Bible are God’s people told to cover up the sins of the leaders.

We do see Jesus wanting to know who is without sin among those wanting to kill the woman caught in adultery. 1) She was not a leader. 2) Her partner in sin got away completely without condemnation apparently. So twisted justice is not justice in God’s eyes. 3) Yes there is a place for forgiveness and mercy under the administration of God. But covering it up is not really what happened to her. She was put to public shame, and like in our day, they made a big mess out of it to hurt her. From Jesus’ words to her, she appears to have repented.

Marks of a Cult

• Mark of a Cult: Deception
• How to tell if you are in cult #7
• How to tell if you are in cult #6
• How to tell if you are in cult #5
• How to tell if you are in cult #4

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