CUL:"Why people join a Cult?" - MORE THAN DOCTRINE  by Ronald Enroth

   Many Christians approach the topic of cults almost exclusively in
terms of false teaching, error, and false prophets. While we need to
examine the teachings and doctrines of any questionable group in the
light of God's Word, it's important to remember that most people are
attracted to cults for non-theological reasons.

   Few Mormons joined the Mormon church because they were drawn
initially to the Book of Mormon. Not many Moonies became members of the
Unification Church out of early fascination with Sun Myung Moon's
Divine Principle. Theological considerations are nearly always
secondary.

   The appeal of the cults is quite simple. Cults lure people and are
successful because they are meeting basic human needs: the need to
belong, to have fellowship, to have a sense of identity and purpose, to
be affirmed as a person, to have answers for life's enduring problems.
One former cult member put it this way: "I really wanted to make the
world a better place. I wasn't satisified with the church of my
childhood. My affluent parents and I didn't get along well, and I
wanted to make it on my own. Then I discovered the group, or rather,
they discovered me. They accepted me just as I was. They affirmed me as
a person, told me I had the qualities to become a leader in their group.

   "I was really impressed. These people seemed to have it together.
They were out to change the world. The leader became for me the father
I never really had. I had found security--the bosom of a family."

   Another reason that young people join cults is to satisfy the need
for authority and certainty in their lives. In the cults, the meaning
of everything is clear. There is no ambiguity. Authoritarian leaders
provide clear directives. And usually they are approachable.

   For some people, a god in the flesh is easier to believe in. One
young man in an Eastern cult wrote to his mother about his guru: "Ma,
He _is_ God. What a chance you have to be a devotee and tune in to His
teachings. He is the one we meet upon our body's death. Why not get to
know Him now so there is no fear or worry upon exit?"

   Christians should not deny that some good can be part of the cult
experience. But we need to help cultists understand that the peace they
feel they have achieved is not the peace of Christ. Though they claim
to have discovered a family, it is not the family of God. Their
security, certainty, and spirituality revolve around a fallible human.

   Effective witness to cultists means we must be prepared to
demonstrate the trustworthiness of the Bible and the uniqueness of
Jesus Christ. It also means we must be prepared to counter spiritual
(and sometimes psychological) brainwashing. If Satan can manipulate the
mind, he can vandalize the soul.

   When witnessing to people in Eastern cults, it is especially
important to remember that their minds have been conditioned by various
forms of spiritual technology, including meditation and chanting, to
the point where it may be difficult to get through to them. Describiing
his mental state after years in an Eastern cult that practiced
intensive meditation, one former member said, "My mind became just so
much jelly beans."

   We must help people see the folly of relying upon technique and
feeling to achieve true spirituality. For many people in cults, the
"spiritual experience" becomes an end in itself. They want to become
"blissed out." They want a push-button approach to spirituality.

   We must help our cultic friends to understand that we are relying
not on method or experience, but solely upon God's freely operative
grace. Experience has its place, but the way we come to know God is by
faith.

   Excerpt from Moody Monthly, November 1987. Written by Ronald Enroth,
professor of sociology at Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California,
and author of "The Lure of the Cults & New Religions" (Intervarsity
Press, 1987).