The recent mass suicide of thirty-nine cult members have left America spiritually confused about the difference between a cult and a true religion. Lest more Americans be tragically led astray, we offer this guide to the differences between a real religion and a cult. Such pseudo-science should be carefully distinguished from credible miracles fully documented in the Bible, such as Ezekiel's Wheel or the Star in the East. These perversions of religion could easily be mistaken for the widely accepted Buddhist doctrine of reincarnation or the Christian belief in Heaven. Cults also regard the body as a source of corruption.
Cults often urge their followers to live communally to avoid contamination by worldliness.
This practice should not be conflated with well-established communities like monasteries, nunneries, Gush Emunim settlements on the West Bank, etc. Cults also indoctrinate their followers. Nearly all cults are dominated by a charismatic leader who claims to know the one true way to enlightenment. This is an obvious borrowing of the Old Testament account of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God. All rights reserved.