The Rise of Evangelical Cults
Unfortunately I find it to be the case that many evangelical movements & schools of thought use manipulation, emotional reasoning, shame, fear, guilt, fake miracles and require unflinching allegiance which lines up pretty nicely with the textbook definition of a cult.
The word cult comes from the Latin word cultus, meaning to worship. Truly, some cults leads one to bow down to more than just status – smothered in sex, money and abuse scandals, many churches, movements, revivals and bible colleges get away with their spiritual malpractice by targeting the vulnerable for those sweet, tax free donations and by justifying their garbage sermons as the direct revelations from God.
I suspect even the most skeptical of non-believers consider the reality of a devil when they behold the ministries who so blatantly lie and deceive hundreds, thousands and sometimes millions of individuals. The most devastating fact being that, once you are indoctrinated by an evangelical cult, you justify their behavior even while they stamp you beneath their feet.
There's a real problem with your church / preacher if it sounds like a broken record, always repeating the same slogans and messages (like going on and on about tithing, why evolution is evil, gay people and being a “real Christian”) - don't let a superficial, hyper-emotional and irrational church, bible college or movement use scare tactics, guilt trips or emotional manipulations to get you to believe their illogical rhetoric.
If someone can't build a case by reason, clarity and scripture but resort to shouting, fear of hell and taking bible verses out of context then it's pretty safe to say that they are ignorant, arrogant and not worth you time or money.
Now, let me clarify one thing first: there are wonderful churches, movements, charities, revivals and bible colleges – of course there are.
Let me clarify a second thing: I'm not demanding perfection from any religious institution, that's impossible – all organizations have their faults.
So let me be clear on what I am saying: there are many Christian organizations that are manipulative and deceptive, recruiting their members using guilt and keeping in their church by using shame. These are the horrible Christian organizations that rely on ignorance and emotional instability to hunt down their prey and feast on their dying soul.
Some preachers that have been accused of this are Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Andrus Strauss and Rooies Strauss. Bible Schools, usually with no accreditation, like School of Fire locations in South Africa, lure in young men and women to do their biding - according to many anonymous sources.
