We live in an age of drive-by shootings and madmen with access to technology that can blow up federal buildings. Everyplace we look, there are messages to terrify us. Those who lack a strong spiritual foundation are easily tempted by a quick fix. Lacking a close relationship with God, they seek a kind of sanctuary that, in reality, can never exist. Any order that claims to have a lock on wisdom is suspect.
Cults demand consensus, while authentic spirituality embraces individual differences.
Any time we surrender our autonomy or thinking process to someone else, we're in trouble. Cults demand adherence to particular practices and principles that defy common sense yet, at the same time, manage to make you feel diminished and foolish for questioning its authority. Cult leaders know that their followers already feel isolated. Threatening them with being ostracized should they display a hint of defiance hits new recruits where they're the most vulnerable. In addition to individual will, cult members are coerced into sacrificing friends, family and possessions.