Spiritual Growth

The third reason people join cults is spiritual.  Many honestly want to know and serve God, and the vitality of evangelically-minded groups attracts them.  A young man who came to me for advice claimed his "relationship with God" had grown as a result of his involvement in a cult.  An Ivy League graduate told me that what attracted him was the group's "zealous Christianity."  A young woman from New England with a graduate degree joined a campus fringe church because it appeared to her "more biblical" than the church in which she was raised.

Three things should be kept in mind here.  First, we each have a spiritual need that beckons us to begin a quest.  Second, a person's search or spiritual quest may be intensified when he or she has had inadequate religious training and nurturing.  And third, the spiritual quest may also be intensified when a person has been adequately nurtured by a sound church!

I am continually surprised by the spiritual hunger I see in the young people at Wellspring.  So many who were burned in cult involvement started out with a sincere and praiseworthy desire to serve God.  Yet it was the cult or fringe church that offered a vital solution to their quest, and not the church, which was often viewed as impotent and bland by comparison.  

We all have spiritual needs.  These needs may be intensified by a deficient religious upbringing.  I do not suggest that only children from such backgrounds will enter cults or fringe churches or that parents should feel guilty for whatever inadequacies existed in the religious training given to their kids.  A number of studies have shown that the type of childhood religious training does not necessarily determine who will eventually join cults or abusive organizations.  Rather than feel guilty, parents should consider how they may better facilitate the spiritual needs of their children, communicating with them and offering sound spiritual alternatives.

In fact, people young and old join cults not only because of a weak religious background but also because of a strong one.  Many join because they have come from active, vital churches, and they often see a "fringe Christian" group as a further step to a vibrant and dynamic Christian life.  For example, a solid evangelical Baptist becomes a leader in the Children of God.  Or, a graduate of an evangelical college, and a dedicated Christian, joins the Mormon Church.  Or, three seminary graduates from solid evangelical divinity schools wind up in a "fringe church,"  where they are burned, betrayed, and used.  

Why do genuine, dedicated Christians join cults or fringe Christian churches?  The reason is that we all desire "something more."  Our dedicated youth do not often see the cult's level of zeal and dedication in their own churches.  The siren song of a cult or a fringe group beckons them.  All too often we confuse vitality and charisma for truth and soundness.

(from Cult Proofing Your Kids by Dr. Paul R. Martin)