There's a word getting thrown around a lot in regarding churches, ministries, an other faiths. It's a word I've seen used flippantly, jokingly, and sometimes with what I see as an appropriate level of gravity. Often it's a word spoken, and probably rightly so, by broken and hurting people. It's a word used by a commenter recent previous post in Provoketive Magazine, Slap on a Little Lipstick, You'll Be Fine. If I am being completely honest, it's a word I've used, sometimes quickly in anger and pain, and also after great prayer and thought.

That's right, I am talking about the 'C' word. Cult.

It's used by many Christians to describe Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Christian Scientists, and many other fringe religious groups and doomsday groups. It's also used against many other Christian churches and ministries that have an authoritarian structure, rigid rules, and apparent spiritual abuse. The commenter from my last article used it in reference to what he thought was a minister requiring me to wear lipstick (as a note, I never stated whether that incident occured at a secular or religious organization).

But what is a cult, really?

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