How do we respond to the connection between the Restoration Movement and many of the biggest cults today?
MORMONS - Sidney Rigdon was a very popular "Campbellite" preacher before meeting Joseph Smith and becoming the first thelogist for the Mormons. He took thousands of "Campbellites" with him and is even speculated to be the actual author of the Book of Mormon.
CHRISTADELPHIANISM - Dr. John Thomas was a prominent follower of Alexander Campbell until he broke off from his ministry and established the "Christadelphians" or "Brethren in Christ".
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES - Benjamin Wilson was a follower of Alexander Campbell. He became a Christadelpian. He never studied Greek, but he published a Greek-English interlinear called "The Emphatic Diaglott." Wilson introduced Charles Taze Russel to the "Restoration" doctrines of Alexander Campbell. The Watchtower Society even published and used Wilson's interlinear for many years. Campbellism through Christadelphianism is the origin of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Add to these big 3 - Jim Jones' Peoples' Temple, which was a member of the Christian Church with Jim Jones an ordained Disciples of Christ minister and the Boston movement which is often considered a cult today. When we follow the chain through the Campbellite influence on the Millerite movement and the others already mentioned we recognise that many of the dangerous cults today that further split from them can be somehow associated with the restoration movement.
Now don't get me wrong - I love the Restoration Movement, but am curious as to how you might reconcile these assorted connections when highlighted by critics.
MORMONS - Sidney Rigdon was a very popular "Campbellite" preacher before meeting Joseph Smith and becoming the first thelogist for the Mormons. He took thousands of "Campbellites" with him and is even speculated to be the actual author of the Book of Mormon.
CHRISTADELPHIANISM - Dr. John Thomas was a prominent follower of Alexander Campbell until he broke off from his ministry and established the "Christadelphians" or "Brethren in Christ".
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES - Benjamin Wilson was a follower of Alexander Campbell. He became a Christadelpian. He never studied Greek, but he published a Greek-English interlinear called "The Emphatic Diaglott." Wilson introduced Charles Taze Russel to the "Restoration" doctrines of Alexander Campbell. The Watchtower Society even published and used Wilson's interlinear for many years. Campbellism through Christadelphianism is the origin of the Jehovah's Witnesses.
Add to these big 3 - Jim Jones' Peoples' Temple, which was a member of the Christian Church with Jim Jones an ordained Disciples of Christ minister and the Boston movement which is often considered a cult today. When we follow the chain through the Campbellite influence on the Millerite movement and the others already mentioned we recognise that many of the dangerous cults today that further split from them can be somehow associated with the restoration movement.
Now don't get me wrong - I love the Restoration Movement, but am curious as to how you might reconcile these assorted connections when highlighted by critics.