Why are you classified as a cult?

• Messages sorted by:[ date ][ thread ][ subject ][ author ]

On the subject of why UPC etc is called a cult:

I heartly agree with Sis Doris.  It is cause for 
rejoicing when men hate us for the cause of 
Jesus Christ and because of His name.  

However, one post misconstrued my posting on 
the Watchman Fellowship position on the UPC.  
They do not call us a cult simply because we 
believe in Baptism (else the Baptists fly out the 
window too). Rather, it is because we teach that 
baptism is essential to salvation (which they take 
to mean that we teach salvation by works).  

These and other such like organization obviously (to us) 
fail to see the Biblical truth and evidence for the 
conditionality of salvation.  They mistakenly believe 
that faith as a mental ascent or a spoken confession 
is all that is required to be saved.  We know that 
every man has a measure of faith (Rom 12:3), therefore 
if their assertions were true, all men would be saved.  
We know that this is not the case.  Also, the devils 
even believe that there is one God and they show 
evidence of it in their trembling.

"Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest 
well: the devils also believe, and tremble."
James 2:19

For the record, the word 'believe' in this verse actually 
indicates that the devils put trust in that one God:

believe = 4100. pisteuo, pist-yoo'-o; from G4102; 
to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person 
or thing), i.e. credit; by impl. to entrust (espec. 
one's spiritual well-being to Christ):--believe (-r), 
commit (to trust), put in trust with.

So therefore if the kind of faith that ascents to a 
belief in God is all that is necessary, then not only 
are all men saved, but so are the devils.

We know that this is not the truth.  We know that 
true faith is dead and alone without obedience and 
obedient living.  These misguided organizations 
fall short of the mark.  They may label us a cult or 
even as occultic, however, the Word of God will 
not return void nor will it ever be broken.  The 
truth will prevail and every knee will bow and confess 
that Jesus Christ is Lord.

On the subject of 'occult':

Since it does not help our credibility to misuse words, 
I thought I might set the record straight on 'occult'

Previous posts:
[snip]
> > Please, lets try to use the correct word here.  "Occult" is an
> > adjective.  "Cult" is a noun.
[snip]
> 
> We do not say that "The Mormons are an occult."  That's akin to saying
> "Pentecostals are a diverse."  It's semantically wrong and means
> nothing.
> 
> > It does not help our credibiliy to misuse words.

The 'Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary Tenth Edition' lists 
three uses for the word 'occult'. The first being as a verb, the 
second being as an adjective and the third being as a noun. It was 
first used as such in 1923: "matters regarded as involving the action 
or influence of supernatural or supernormal powers or some secret 
knowledge of them -- used with [the]" 


Kathy Dimick
Falkville, Alabama
kdimick@colsa.com
kedimick@hotmail.com

"For to me to live is Christ"