When I was in high school and college, there was a great book for religiously conservative Christians (a.k.a., flaming fundamentalists) like me to read. That book was called The Kingdom Of The Cults by Walter Martin. And, according to the book, the first telltale sign that a group was a cult was its bad theology. In other words, their theology was so wrong that it could no longer be called a Christian faith. And that tells people something about what we religiously conservative Christians believe about cults. Cults are something that people from other faiths get involved with, not us.
But in considering the evangelical ties to Trump, in part due to the number of qualities he shares with the characteristics of cult leaders, one would rightfully already expect that perhaps at least some religiously conservative Christians have already joined a cult. That however, leaves those religiously conservative Christians who are not enamored by Trump off the hook, right? Well maybe not.
Consider one of the statements made by Harry Reed made in a lecture recorded on video and posted on the Ligonier website, which is a religiously conservative Protestant organization that is respected for its intellectual rigor among religiously conservative Christians from the Reformed Tradition. Reeder stated that those who are promoting the current cultural revolution, which he opposes, are big business, big government, media, journalism, and the academy (click here for the video). Now switch back to Trump fans and see if their list of what sources of information to avoid are similar with the list that Reeder gave.
What is the significance of that list? One of the ways by which cults work is to isolate their members from outside influences. And so think about whom religiously conservative Christians, whether they are Trump fans or not, are told to not trust. It is those who hold to different views some of which might add important correctives to what we believe about the world. We only need to go to Church History to see how our leaders have steered us away from corrective information. When Heliocentrism was being advanced, leaders from both the Reformation and the Roman Church adamantly rejected and verbally attacked those advancing the theory. But their rejection didn't disprove Heliocentrism. Their rejection meant that those Christians who unquestionably followed their leaders remained in the dark as to the earth's relationship to the sun and other planets and the universe was.
Religiously conservative Christianity has had some other brushes with science and has ended up with a mixed record. And our past losses should tell us that, though we can have both a significant amount of trust in our leaders with a health dose of skepticism; we cannot afford to blindly trust them.
Reeder's statement is a call for those listening to engage in at least a partial isolation from the world. It is an informational isolation to be precise. And promoting isolation is an important method cults use to create conformity in their group.
But let's see if there are any other characteristics of us religiously conservative Christians have with those who have been trapped in cults.
Another trait of concern here is the level of trust members are told to put in their leaders. Now here, we should remember that one of the characteristics of cult leaders is that they are charismatic. And if you ever hung out with a bunch of religiously conservative Christians from the Reformed tradition, one of the traits missing by both followers and leaders is charisma.
Now we are not like the Roman Church who has the Pope, but we do have leaders from the past. For religiously conservative Reformed Christians, those leaders in whom we are told to place almost absolute, if not absolute, trust in are our standards: our confessions of faith and catechisms. Those who wish to hold offices in many conservative Reformed denominations are expected to subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith and its catechisms. Also, office holders and congregants are expected to follow other Reformed standards such as the Heidelberg Catechism. The conservative side of the Lutheran Church, such as the LCMS, have their own set of standards to subscribe to. Please note that pew sitters are not required to subscribe to the standards like office holders are required to subscribe to. And those office holders are allowed to list exceptions they have. But the exception list has to be small. However, the degree agreement with the Standards. Also note that there are teachings from our standards that cannot be compromised without destroying the Christian Faith. But not all teachings from our standards fit in that category.
The issue here is that the level of agreement one is expected to have with the standards of a given denomination is very high. And if you add to that the significant semi-isolation that Reeder and others have suggested, we now see two key characteristics that we religiously conservative Christians share with those who are cult members. One is informational isolation. And with that, we see another trait: the control of information. And when we compare the degree of trust in which we put in our standards, we can experience a significant vulnerability to being indoctrinated.
Other traits include a self-degradation. If you ever read the Westminster Catechism's commentary on the Ten Commandments, one would be reminded of what use to be termed in football as 'piling on.' For that is what the Westminster Standards do when talking about how sinful we are. Just read what the Westminster Larger Catechism lists what is forbidden by the Commandment prohibiting the committing of adultery (click here for the source):
'The sins forbidden in the seventh commandment, besides the neglect of the duties required, are, adultery, fornication, rape, incest, sodomy, and all unnatural lusts; all unclean imaginations, thoughts, purposes, and affections; all corrupt or filthy communications, or listening thereunto; wanton looks, impudent or light behavior, immodest apparel; prohibiting of lawful, and dispensing with unlawful marriages; allowing, tolerating, keeping of stews, and resorting to them; entangling vows of single life, undue delay of marriage; having more wives or husbands than one at the same time; unjust divorce, or desertion; idleness, gluttony, drunkenness, unchaste company; lascivious songs, books, pictures, dancings, stage plays; and all other provocations to, or acts of uncleanness, either in ourselves or others.'
One can certainly understand much of what is prohibited. But note how drunkeness, gluttony, idleness, among other behaviors, are thrown into the mix about adultery. Note that keeping 'unchaste company' is a violation of the commandment. And so how are we to minister to some of the same kind of people to whom Jesus ministered in person and hung out with if we were to follow what the Larger Catechism says about prohibiting adultery?
The trait of being unmercifully hard on oneself is shared by many who grew up in dysfunctional homes. I know that I have, and continue to have, that trait all too many times because I grew up with an alcoholic father and a mother who had her own significant struggles. I know others whose sources of dysfunction are different who also share that same struggle.. And unless I miss my guess from reading the Westminster Larger Catechism's commentary on the Ten Commandments, at least some of the writers of the Westminster Standards also grew up learning to suffer with that trait.
And it isn't that we should not note how sinful we are as people. It is that, if we are not careful, we can indulge in a harmful inner self-flagellation that makes us more vulnerable to becoming cult members. And what is deceptive here is that inner self-flagellation appears as a badge of honor to many of us who hold to the Reformed Theological beliefs.
I see that so many of my fellow religiously conservative Christians have shown a penchant for our informational isolation. Many, but not all of them, have joined the Trump followers. And so now they are denying the clear realities of the pandemic and vaccines, systemic racism in our nation, the validity of the 2020 Presidential election, and climate change despite the overwhelming evidence that constantly challenges our faith. And since the 2015 Obergefell SCOTUS decision, we have increasingly isolated ourselves from legitimate sources of information in the world.
Why have we started to isolate ourselves more? One of the reasons can be found in what is preached from the pulpits of many religiously conservative churches. It is a message of fear. It is a message that tells us pew sitters that we will be persecuted more and more for our faith because Christianity is no longer the dominant influencer on culture. Unfortunately, we anticipate persecution because we have learned to confuse disagreement with hostility. And we have not been able to distinguish those who are hostile to us because we are still trying to impose our values on them from those who are hostile to us because of the message of the Gospel. And realize that developing an us vs. them mentality is part of how cults work.
We need to stop and check if being in a cult is not just something that others are vulnerable to.
References
- https://janjalalich.com/blog/behavioral-control-system/
- https://janjalalich.com/help/characteristics-associated-with-cults/
- https://carm.org/about-religions/what-are-some-signs-and-practices-of-a-cult/
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