Hopefully, you’re not reading this because you want to start a cult. But I think it’s important that we understand the ingredients of Christian cults so that we can recognize them when they come. Fortunately, the tactics are consistent and predictable.

Let me illustrate with one I’m being asked about more recently: the idea that you have to be baptized to be saved. I’m a Baptist. I’ve been baptized. I’ve baptized many people. I think baptism is important. Really important. But I also believe that people are saved through faith alone, not through baptism. Let’s consider how you’d start a cult that convinced people that they weren’t saved unless they were baptized.

1. Isolate a few Bible verses and ignore the others

Most truths of the Bible are multi-dimensional. What you do when you want to start a cult is zero in on the verses that explain one dimension of a truth and ignore the others.

People who teach that you’re not saved unless you’re baptized focus on verses like Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins,” and John 3:5, “unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” Before you come to a conclusion as important as whether you have to be baptized to be saved based on these verses, you’d want to consider the other verses that deal with this topic also. As you do, you realize the issue is more complicated.

In John 3:16, for example, Jesus says, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” If baptism is necessary for eternal life, why didn’t Jesus mention it? And why did Jesus promise the thief on the cross that he would join Him in paradise (Luk 23:42-43) even though he had no opportunity to be baptized? And in Romans 10:9, why did Paul say, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”? Did he just forget to mention baptism or is something else going on?

2. Ignore the context of the verses you teach

If you’re going to start a Christian cult, you ignore the context of the verses you teach. As we looked at a sampling of verses related to baptism and salvation, it’s clear that some verses seem to teach that you need to be baptized to be saved and others don’t. Critics raise their hands and assume they’ve found a contradiction. Often context provides some clues. As you examine the gospel appeals in the New Testament, what you see is that baptism was the way that people normally responded to the message of the gospel. If people wanted to respond to the gospel preaching of John the Baptist, or Peter or Paul, they were baptized on the spot. That was the way that you expressed repentance and faith. When you see that context, it seems clear that when Peter says “Repent and be baptized … for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38), it’s the act of repentance as typically, but not necessarily, expressed through baptism that saves a person. It’s not saying that you need to be baptized in addition to repenting.

3. Use threats and pressure and avoid grace

When you’re trying to start a cult, you don’t want people to examine other Scriptures or consider the context of the verses you are using. So, what cult leaders inevitably do is use threats and pressure to control their followers. If the message and the mood of a group is fear rather than grace, then you know that Jesus is not in charge. He’s the one who came “full of grace and truth,” and His true followers should reflect both.

May God guard us from those who would seek to deceive and unsettle Jesus’ followers.

In awe of Him,

Paul