At http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/sep2014/jovial928.htm I explained why KJV Onlyism is a Cult and listed in detail why that is the case.
Pastor Bob responded to my post by saying KJV Onlyism is missing 2 ingredientes needed for a cult, saying.
a cult has a central body leadership that makes decisions for all of its disciples.....
- First,
Secondly, most cults fear that their disciples will investigate their opposition's beliefs and then be converted by the truth. Therefore they make strict rules of their disciples, disallowing books and materials that disagree with their doctrine. Well, actually both of these elements are present in KJV Onlyism. KJV Onlyism, by definitions, bans accurate translations of the Bible. KJV Onlyism bans any translation of the Bible except the KJV. That is by definition of what KJV Onlyism is. Since the KJV is not 100% accurate, as I demonstrated at http://www.fivedoves.com/letters/aug2014/jovial824-4.htm , a 100% accurate translation of the Bible is banned by KJV Onlyism. Most Bibles are banned by definition of what KJV Onlyism is, and it is indeed out of fear that you will read a different translation and conclude that one of the favorite pet doctrines of the cult leaders is wrong.
The "central body leadership" also exists. What is interesting is that in the case of KJV Onlyism, there is more than one. The Southern Baptist Denomination is not KJV Only on paper, but is KJV Only culturally and socially, and to be a good Baptist and to be hired as a Baptist Pastor at MOST Baptist congregations, you'd better be KJV Only. Part of the reason is that there are Once Saved Only Saved verses that are weakened by other translations. That of course is a doctrine few people outside the Baptist structure believe in. You can find Baptist Churches that are not KJV Only, but it is hard to find them, because it is a movement being driven by the people in leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention on a heavy, but not necessarily on paper official level.
Church of Christ is another denomination that does the same thing, and it is hard to get hired as a COC Pastor unless you swallow the KJV Only doctrine hook line and sinker. While they reject the OSAS doctrine that causes Baptists to be KJV Only, they have other doctrines that are weakened by competing translations. So they too are culturally / socially KJV Only. They have found a way to dance around the KJV translation of Revelation 14:2 and explain away why it does not contradict their doctrine of not allowing musical instruments in worship, but they have a harder time of explaining away other translations of that verse. So in order to preserve their doctrines, many to most are KJV Only. They aren't ALL that way, but most are.
Both the Baptists and the Church of Christ dictate certain oral laws they claim are found undeniably in the written pages of the KJV. These doctrines disagree with each other. Baptists claim OSAS is undeniably in the written KJV, yet the Church of Christ is also KJV Only and disagrees with this doctrine. Church of Christ will swear up and down that anyone who is Bible Only will agree with their doctrine of not using musical instruments. Yet the Baptists also claim to agree with sola scriptura and they use musical instruments.
These two denominations are proving by their mutual disagreement over selective doctrines that KJV Onlyism fails to achieve the goal that drives it. But they both promote it as a percieved means of keeping the flock faithful to their pet doctrines.
Both of these denominations have indeed formed a cultic mindset around KJV Onlyism. So yes, there are indeed men at the top of both of these organizations that are promoting the cult of KJV Onlyism.
HOWEVER, a cult can exist in multiple ways. There are;
- Social Cults - Driven by a single personality, or a denomination / group of men who think the same way
- Doctrinal Cults - Defined by a certain pet doctrine, such as OSAS, or no music in Church.
Anytime someone gets in the way of presenting Yeshua as THE WAY, it is a cult. If you don't like music in Church, that is a personal preference and not a big deal. But when you make such a big deal out of it that you question the veracity of the salvation of anyone who plays guitar in worship then you have indeed formed a cult. Maybe no single person is behind it, but a cult does not need a person behind it. It only needs an idea that gets in the way of the Gospel.
There are people in the Church of Christ who honestly believe everyone who uses an instrument in worship will burn in hell. If you corner them, they will admit that one COULD play an instrument in worship and be saved - it is not a litmus test for salvation. But it is a fruits of salvation thing. That is - no one who has "got the real thing" would play an instrument because they would love God too much to do that. They believe that those Baptists across the street who play instruments are deceiving themselves and they might confess the right God, but they just don't have Him in their heart, otherwise, they would not be playing musical instruments and calling their pastor "Reverend". If they had the real thing, they'd love God too much to do those things.
That is cultic thinking folks.
Many KJV Onlyists are like this too. Many of them believe that if you "have the real thing", God will show you the truth of KJV Onlyism and you'll just believe it because that's what people who "have the real thing" do. Again, its cultic thinking from people who have obsessed with majoring on the minors. People who spend time learning the original language so they can read the Bible in the original language are not respected as "having the real thing". Only those with an English only attitude are.
I also find it interesting that Pastor Bob could admit that SDAs fail 8 of 27 tests for a cult, yet he still calls them a "cult". On the other hand, he can only identify 2 tests KJV Onlyists allegedly fail, and he's wrong about those since KJV Onlyism by definition passes the second test he cited, and it does indeed have people who are socially promoting it.
But a cult needs to only pass ONE TEST to be a cult. If it teaches that there is a doctrine you MUST believe outside our Savior's death and resurrection, or an action you MUST do, either to be saved or to show evidence that you "have the real thing", then you are in a cult, and it is time to wake up and smell the coffee and repent now before it is too late.
If you really believe that it is more important for you to convert Christians to believing in Doctrine X than to convert unbelievers into believing in the Gospel, you are probably trapped in a cultic mindset without realizing it. Fill in "X" with anything; music in worship, calling people "reverend" or KJV Onlyism, and that is cultic thinking. Because the only doctrine THAT important is the salvation that our Savior did for us on the cross.
The only POST salvation teaching that is THAT important to teach people who have accepted the rudiments of the Gospel is to have a relationship with God. Spend time in prayer. Talk to God. You can be saved and not have a great relationship with God. But learning to have one is the SECOND most important thing we need to teach people, not what translation they read out of.
By definition of what KJV Onlyism is, it bans reading from the original language and bans a 100% accurate translation of the bible. How can either of those things be good? How can anyone using their brain accept this idea? But that is how cults work - logic is put on hold and ideas that MAKE NO SENSE when examined intelligently are accepted and embraced in cultic thinking.
Shalom,
Joe