Christian Cults

[coffee4u]

I would advise posters to be careful when replying to this thread. I also don't know how you can actually respond to it as I was once banned for simply calling a certain church a cult.

You might find the site rules here quite helpful.
Terms of Service and Christian Forum Rules | Christian Forums
It contains the Nicene Creed and other informative tips.

Rather than looking for what to avoid (apart from the well known cults)
https://christiananswers.net/q-aiia/aiia-top10cults.html
Start with a church that agrees with the Nicene Creed. All major churches will have a statement of faith.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I think we confuse the issue by conflating heresy with cult. These are distinct things and distinct concepts.

A group can be heretical, but not a cult.
A group can be [more-or-less] orthodox, and also a cult.

The Westboro Baptist Church, as far as I can tell, doesn't deviate from normative Christian teaching on things such as the Trinity, the Incarnation, etc; but it should be classified as a cult as far as I'm concerned.

The United Pentecostal Church is a heretical group that denies the Trinity and rejects normative Christian Baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit; but is it a cult?

I think when we conflate these things we only introduce confusion into the conversation.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[splish- splash]

Let me give some very simple pointers to look out for.

-When your church leader, is always giving worldy prophecies, e.g when your husband will return home from his mistress, and your relative performing witchcraft on you.

-When all they seem to worry about is, holding deliverance services year in year out, and then soon after wards, dozens of people will now come flooding in with testimonies, about how their rival died instead, their husband returned home and how they received miracle money etc.

-When they have now replaced alter calls, with conversations about pledging/sowing seed.

-When you think, they are finally giving a proper sermon, only to find the sermon is getting linked back to statements like, secrets of financial success & breakthrough.

 

[splish- splash]

Also; Be very wary of Churches that suddenly grow overnight. Like if one minute the church was struggling to attract congregants, but all of a sudden, it just started mushrooming from no where. Places like that, tend to be cults.

 

[hedrick]

I'm not aware of any Christian group in which you would be physically unsafe.

There are high-pressure approaches that might be psychologically or spiritually unsafe, but the really serious ones are rare, and you're unlikely to encounter them.

Beyond that it's hard to recommend something without knowing more about your own point of view. There's a fundamental divide between groups that accept inerrancy of the Bible, church tradition, or neither. Within those areas there are certainly differences, but maybe not so important to someone exploring. Those that accept inerrancy of either kind tend to reject consensus American ideas about gender and sex (although for Catholics there's a wide gap between the official position and what members actually believe and do). Among those who accept Biblical inerrancy there is often a commitment to conservative culture and practice, but the degree differs depending upon the group.

Worship style, of course, may vary even without the same group.