Have you ever known someone who belonged to a group that you considered a cult? That is a maybe, for some of us.

“Cult” is a word the older generation used, more than we do today. I remember older people talking about some churches and religious groups, and using the word “cult.” It was almost like a swear word; also known as a pejorative noun.

Generally, “cult” refers to a group that cuts its members off from outsiders, and teaches things that are destructive, and not true. I think it’s safe to say that “The People’s Temple” with their leader Jim Jones was a cult. They left San Francisco and isolated themselves from the world, in the jungles of South America, in the country of Guyana. You probably know that most of them committed suicide when Jim Jones told them to, but first, they poisoned and killed their children. Some adults may have killed themselves out of guilt.

The level of manipulation was profound.

There is another famous group, Heaven’s Gate. Many prominent members cheerfully committed suicide, with direction from their leader. They were sometimes called “The UFO Cult.”

Their story is so strange, it’s hard to describe:

So no, you are probably not like that. I’m not either.

Except that we are all like that. We can all become members of an isolating, abusive community if one is available. We all have that potential in us. What happened in history, can happen in the future and in your life and mine. We should expect more.

Many years ago, we had a problem in the city where I live. The pastor, in a church that I respect, preached about a group that is often described as a cult. I won’t name the group, because possibly the crime that happened after was not done by a member of the group.

That church had a steep roof. That information is important for this story.

I think the pastor preached a series of sermons about the “cult” group.

And then the fire department was called.

We were told, in the news, that someone had thrown a Molotov Cocktail, a firebomb, onto the roof of that church. That steep roof saved them. The bomb rolled off the roof and burned on the ground, with little damage.

That large building did not burn to the ground, but the message was clear. Don’t preach about those people, and don’t call them a cult.

So, if the world is so dangerous, how do we protect ourselves and our families? What should we do?

Have you heard of Walter Martin, the author of the book “The Kingdom of the Cults”?

• READ: The Kingdom of the Cults

This was probably the standard textbook of the “Counter Cult” movement and that movement was the reason that I heard the word “cult” so often when I was young. I recommend looking at that book. It will give you a valuable education.

Years ago, I went to a meeting where Walter Martin was the speaker. It just occurred to me, as I write this, that the meeting was in the same church that was firebombed, a few years earlier. There might be a theme here.

I agree with apologists like Walter Martin, who warn us about dangerous groups and ideas. We should pay attention when they warn us.

There is another warning we need to hear. We need to know why intelligent and good people can be deceived, and why they will accept abuse as a good thing.

We have some direction, from two thousand years ago: “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” (Galatians 3:1)

The story behind that radical statement is, among the first Christians, there were active cult groups that recruited members for their destructive and controlling communities. Galatia was a region, so there may have been several Christian congregations that were affected. Who knows how dangerous that deception was? Destructive cults are not a new idea.

Notice, the people were warned about themselves, before they were warned about the abusive cult groups.

Look at yourself first ‘You’ as Paul asked “who has bewitched you?”.

I know, and you know, that it is so comfortable when we can give our relationship with God, our spiritual lives, to our leaders. We can just float in the bliss.

Here is a first step in the right direction: I won’t tell you what to think and do, I only recommend that you find the book of Galatians and turn to chapter 3.

You can read the words after verse one, and educate yourself. With practice, we can all become responsible and mature in our spiritual lives, and the destructive cults will dry up, from a lack of recruits.

We won’t be available.

We need to see the weakness in ourselves.