Religious Cults and Adults

This past decade has seen an explosion of interest and involvement in religious cults in America and around the world. For instance, 39 members of the Heaven's Gate, including their founder Marshall Applewhite, committed mass suicide in an effort to shed their earthly containers and move to a higher level of experience aboard a spaceship they believed to be following the Hale-Bopp comet. Around the earth fundamentalists declare war on the unsuspecting. Rival political parties assume a religious aura and language.

Why then do adults join religious cults? An easy, but not definitive answer is that they want to; adults do what they want to do. They may not know why they are attracted to cults or give large sums of money and time to them, but they do. Maybe they are hoping the cult or its leaders can give them some sense of life.

But what is a cult? It is a religious group with a distinctive theological view that varies greatly from the dominant religion in a country or society. The usual structure is "us versus them." Hence, cults are often authoritarian in nature.

Adults join cults because they believe the leaders and the group can give meaning to their lives. They lack self-confidence.

These persons believe that they are victims of events and society over which they have no control. Or they may perceive themselves to be a part of a despised race or class.

Generally cults appeal to young adults, ages 18–28. Young adults are most attracted to cults at times of transitions in their lives—leaving home, deciding on a career, entering college or work, and getting married. When adults are in transition, especially when their own family is dysfunctional or far away, they find cults attractive because cults have definite beliefs and lifestyles. Maybe cult members provide them with the support and "family" lacking in their lives. People join cults not because they have discovered an intellectual destination but because they have found a social and psychological safety net.

Near the end of the Sermon the Mount, Jesus offered a stern warning against false prophets and teachers—then as well as now. Matthew 7:15-23 says:

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, "Lord, Lord" will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?" Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, evildoers!"

AdultApplication: What connections can you make between adults being caught up in childhood beliefs about church and/or Bible study and finding a cult inviting? How can you ensure that adults' needs are being met, particularly at times of transition, so that cults are not an option? List adult transitions. How does your church/class minister to adults at these times?