Cult founders often react to a belief or practice common to the churches of their day. Most cult converts come from religious backgrounds. Their journey to this new faith is usually from a former faith, not from no faith at all. Most cult converts were failed by their church or synagogue. Most will tell you that their spiritual journey, before they joined the cult, was in a church where they were disappointed or disillusioned by something that happened, such as a church quarrel.
Many cults are elitist groups.
Most cults think that they are the One True Church. There are any number of methods of classifying cults. Because of the widely diverse nature of cults, and the limits of any artificial classification system, it is virtually impossible to develop a system that will provide a completely accurate slot into which to classify every group. For sake of illustration, here are two possible methods of classifying cults. Classification by Scope of Interest One possible method to use in classifying cults is by the emphasis they place on one or more major areas of their belief system.