my conclusion

Through the experience I had with a cult group and also a family I am friends with that was rescued from an extreme cult group, the definition of a cult is simply this "Jesus plus..."

When anything is added as primary focus...then its a cult.

Jesus plus good works
Jesus plus religious rituals
Jesus plus .....anything....

And it could even be...I see now...

Jesus plus confessions.

Jesus alone is not enough. Childlike trust in Him is not enough. Listening to His voice moment by moment is not enough - you also need this and that discipline to practise in order to be okay....you also need to pray at least hour a day after you wake up...you also need to have this and that covering....you also need to practise diligently the discipline of positive confessions, Jesus alone is not enough, looking at Him is not enough, you need our formulas also..........that would be the kinda lines used...that would remind me of a cult.


Teachings of Christ is good to keep us in Truth yet. Loving Jesus is loving Truth. 2Thes 2:10 "because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion..."

You can't love Jesus and not love Truth for He is the Truth. You can't love Jesus and not love His Word when He sends it.

So its not a matter of Jesus plus Truth, for Jesus is Truth.

But Jesus plus prayer for example, could be witchcraft when prayer and the specific type of prayer as a discipline becomes the focus and not Jesus.


And Jesus plus good works, could be witchcraft when good works and the specific type of "good works" as a discipline becomes the focus and not Jesus.



And Jesus plus confessions, could be witchcraft when this as a discipline becomes the focus and not Jesus.


Back to Christian mysticism. It is about
1. Prayer
2. Disciplines
2. Abstinence.

And if you ever get to read that article about eros spirituality vs agape faith, it shows exactly that.

Cult groups can be extremely spiritual. Angelic visitations and supernatural manifestations being intense. And always but always it is about the intense practice of some or a variety of Christian disciplines. In Christian Science it is about the practice of the discipline of confessions and positive thought in particular.





Jesus IS
The WAY
The TRUTH
And the LIFE


When we experience death in any area of our life, we know Jesus is the Life. In Him is life and only in Him.

Some people realize that, but they don't get it that He is also the way. Now instead of resting in Him and allowing Him to steer the way, whatever it may takes, He may instruct a fast, He may prompt a person to do some confessions and give a particular Word or promise from Scripture for the situation, He may require thanksgiving, He may require just waiting on Him and being still. He IS the way for every situation of death to come to life. And in being the WAY, He is also the TRUTH, where there is lies the light of His Truth will expose it as we lean on Him and Him only.

But now some people have seen how Jesus had instructed them once to worship when they were coming from death to life in a situation or condition. Now they built an altar of worship, and make of the discipline of worship "THE way".

Religion is what's left when God has left the building.

So now the follow the discipline expecting Jesus to come through as He did the first time. They have reduced Him to a formula and independently now want to get Him to do stuff that they want Him to do, instead of laying down all formulas and coming back to Jesus as THE WAY.

For another person when Jesus was The WAY for them in accessing life from a situation of death may have been that Jesus prompted them to do a specific Scriptural confession over and over.

Now they make a formula of THAT and now independantly of Jesus being the WAY they want to "make it happen" based on the method Jesus used last time.

And so it becomes a Jesus PLUS.

And then it has become a religious cult.
And they live from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, of formulas of good and evil and not of HIM.




When people live from the tree of knowledge of good and evil as described below it is about turning everything that is "evil" their view to what is "good" their view by the application of the discipline which they believe is "the WAY".

In Christian Science, a person that is suffering some discomfort of any kind may interpret this as "evil" based on his human understanding. Because he believes God to be "good" (from a humanistic perspective of what is good), he wants to "treat" the situation by using his "formula" of confession.

When Hezekiah got a Word that he would die from his sickness he judged the word as "evil" based on his human understanding (regardless whether it was a Word from God Himself). Because he believes he should only have "good" (from his perspective and mental frame), he needed to "treat" the situation by disciplines of prayer and continuous nagging at God.

Some people use the discipline of fasting, other the discipline of singing to God, other the discipline of doing good deeds, to "cure" situations from "evil" to "good".

But how can the human mind determine what is evil. Still today people think God's instruction to kill all the families of Canaanites was evil - from their humanism perspective. People see any discomfort as evil. Their perception of good is if I roll in the money and I have everything going my way. If I don't, it is "evil" and I want to grab at some "discipline" to "fix" the situation.
Christian mysticism is the same.

Any cult is the same.

More advanced cults try to use the "formulas" not only to "treat" their own conditions but also that of the "greater humanity". That's when you get groups doing mantras with the names of God for example over a war situation to bring peace.

Can't you see how confessions have become a "formula", just another type of "formula" to substitute Jesus as the way, so people can independantly change what they consider "evil" situations to "good".

Confession, worship, good deeds, prayer, meditation of the Word...all those things are wonderful, good, wholesome, when used in HIM, as an outflow of Him being the vine and we the branches and He prompts us to flow in that particular thing. That is all part of living of the Tree of life.

But to take one element and make of that an independent "discipline" that is when we get into witchcraft, into living from the Tree of knowledge of good and evil.

I know I speak Truth to you. I know that.



See also foundationsofchristianity.co.za/Universalism.htm which was the product that flowed after the loose notes jotted below was taken and then it kept expanding. But this I wrote above is my latest conclusion on the matter of Word of Faith movement.