Is this church a cult?

Actually, yes. The definintion for the word "cult" is a group or sect bound together by belief of the same thing, person, ideal, etc.

The word cult used today is generally spoken in reference to a religion or sect considered to be false, unorthodox, or extremist, with members often living outside of conventional society under the direction of a charismatic leader.

As an evangelical Christian, I have been taught that any religion deviating from the bounds of Truth (the Holy Bible). I think this is mainly referring to religious cults. I think there is a huge difference between a religiously based cult and a socially based cult, and I don't know much about those groups that would be considered more of a social cult.

This definition of cult I don't necessarily agree with, because even a good, solid, bible believing/teaching church is going to be somehow imperfect as we are all human, and fall short of God's glory and perfection. (Romans 3:23) So to define a cult as something that fails to fully be bound in teaching and action to Truth is pretty far-fetched. For that to be true I believe every leader, every member, every ministry would have to be flawless which can't happen since nobody is perfect.

Churches that teach things that do not agree with scripture (and you'd have to research it and dig into Scripture/pray to know for sure) are cult ish but again, there's a fine line between major deviations from Truth and denominations that may not have a fully biblical doctrine but still have people under that denomination who's faith is genuine and true. There are Pseudo-Christian cults such as Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses that play off that they are very biblically based but when it comes down to things like salvation, who they worship and practices that they testify to in God's name saying that THIS IS TRUTH, and its not (blasphemy). those are the kinds of things I see as cults. The organizations that are set up with a doctrine that if you believe those doctrines you cannot still be a Christian. I don't know enough about Pentacostal Church to know for sure if it would truly be defined as a cult.

First answer by PierreM. Last edit by Amazon2. Contributor trust: 0 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 7 [recommend question]