A major work worth your careful consideration!
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Anthony Hoekema was a brilliant theologian. I would caution other readers not to readily dismiss this book or any other simply because one reads things dissimilar to one's prior understanding. Hoekema points out that cults so often have leaders (groups or individuals) who are elevated to a level of unquestioned authority based on supposed private or exclusive revelation from God concerning salvation and other critically important concerns. Members aren't encouraged to , and are often disuaded from thinking for themselves...after all they don't operate on the same spiritual plane as their more enlightened leaders, or so they're told. God's grace becomes all but non-existent, Christ's righteousness imputed to believers is either forgotten, denied or downplayed, and legalistic obedience to LAW (commandment keeping to ensure salvation, etc.) fills the void.
God used this book to bring me out of my association with the unbiblical cult of
the Jehovah's Witnesses over twenty-five years ago. Read this book. Check out Hoekema's references and determine what is true by comparing the teachings of these groups with that of inspired Scripture. Think for yourself!
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One Of The Few Correct Cult Books
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The author has done an excellent job, especially in identifying Seventh Day Adventists as a cult. A number of authors on this subject have left them out and at least one has deleted them from his newest editions. The S.D.A. has ALL the earmarks of a cult and I know this first hand. I was a pastor in a small town in California which had a large Adventist population. Like most other Christians, I thought the only difference I had with them was our day of worship. Boy, did I find out otherwise. While one reviewer is technically correct is saying that the S.D.A. church wasn't founded at the time of the Great Disappointment, he is wrong is saying that no "Adventists" were involved. They did take part as followers of William Miller. Ellen Harmon (later White) and her family were dismissed from their Methodist church because of their "strange beliefs", so they were not really Methodists, either. At that time were not observing the Saturday Sabbath. That would not come until Ellen White had one of her "visions" in which she came to the conclusion that the Sabbath must be kept (it never is according to Old Testament regulations and that's because it was intended ONLY for the Jews!). She had this vision so that she and her husband could get the patronage of a wealthy retired sea captain, Joseph Bates . . . and it worked. At a time when most Protestant churches were teaching that the papacy was the mark of the beast, Bates began teaching that the "mark" was Sunday-keeping. Ellen and her husband James jumped on his band-wagon, got his financial support and the Seventh Day Adventists were born. Also, regarding this book, I was raised a Christian Scientist and my grandfather was the "reader" of a large metropolitan church. I was pleased to see the expose on this group. Even though their numbers have dropped from almost 300,000 in the early 1900 to their current 100,000 they are an insidious cult which appeal to the intellectuals of today. They should be called "Anti-Christian Science Fiction".
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Hardly cults...
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Clearly biased. I was presented this book by a pastor when I'd mentioned to him my attendance of a Seventh-Day Adventist church. This book, along with people's misunderstandings perpetuate the idea of Adventism being classified among these other movements. While Adventism most distinguishes itself among other denominations, its foundation is the very same as other Protestant churches. Perhaps this is overlooked because all four of these churches arose during the same time period and differ to varying degrees from the traditional Sunday church.
To call any of these organizations a cult is a far cry from the truth, however Adventists are clearly Christian and not cultists. A better view of cults are Koresh or that Taiwanese movement in Texas that believed in boarding UFOs.
I gave this book a three due to its unfounded conclusions but offered a comprehensive introduction. Perhaps this book might come in hand to those interested in apologetics?
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Inaccurate and mixed up!
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This man doesn't seem to understand how to identify a cult. A cult is not identified by the fact that they're proud of what they believe, or that they are spreading their religion everywhere, or that they have a sense of urgency! Any true Christian should feel this way as well! A cult is really identified by how well they follow the Bible and God. Test people by the Bible, and not by their actions! Another thing that I noticed as I was looking through the index was that it referred to the Great Disappointment. That's something that's usually tacked onto Seventh-day Adventists, to prove that they specified a date when Jesus would come back. Perhaps that's because anyone believing that Jesus would come back at that time was labeled an Adventist. However, most of those people were Methodists, and there were a few other religions as well, but there were no Seventh-day Adventists! The Seventh-day Adventist church would not be around for another couple decades, so anyone that says that Seventh-day Adventists set dates can't necessarily be trusted to know other things about them! And one more thing, Seventh-day Adventists are actually not a separate religion, but they are a Christian denomination. Even the Catholic Church admits that Seventh-day Adventists follow the Bible more closely than anyone else! The best way to learn what someone believes is to go right to the source, rather than to learn the information second-hand. This man is obviously misinformed about Seventh-day Adventists, and so I have no idea how accurate the rest of his information is! I strongly discourage the reading of this book, unless one merely wants to read the opposition.
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Hoekema has since admitted his mistake
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Since the publication of this book, Anthony A Hoekema has since recinded his comments about one or more of the denominations mentioned.
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