By Bernie L. Gillespie August 13, 1999 All Rights Reserved

It is quite a challenge to categorize and classify all the different gospels that are available. There are groups that have a very obvious deviation from the teaching of Scripture. Then there are groups that are very close to many of the essential of classical, biblical Christianity, except for one major difference. And in between are those who stray from one or more vital tenets of truth while holding to other very biblical truths.

It really becomes necessary as we talk about different gospel to carefully define our terms. Some speak of "aberrant Christianity." Others use the terms "schism," "cult," "heresy," "sect" and "apostasy".  What do these terms mean? And how can we be discerning about the 'different gospels' out there?

The first word is "schism." It means one or a group who separates from the main or parent body over an non-doctrinal issue. It is called a division from a lack of love. It means a rent or division and is used in 1 Corinthians:

I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. (cp. 1 Cor. 11:18 NIV)

The next word is sect. It comes from the Latin secta and means "a party, school, faction." It comes from a word that means "to cut, to separate." It can refer to a group which remains in the parent religious body while promoting a division within it. For example, the Pharisees in Judaism. A sect can be a group that splits or break off from its parent body over serious doctrinal differences. For example, Christianity from Judaism or Protestants from the Roman Catholic Church. As Troeltsch has expressed, a sect is a "formally organized religious body that arises in protest against and competition with the pervasive religion of a society." [Elwell, Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Baker, 1984, "Sect, Sectarian," H. K. Gallatin, p. 995] Gallatin says that most sects change from a protesting movement in the parent body and become a full-fledged church after one or two generations

A sect within a religious body can be referred to as a "sedition" or division. The word for division here is not schism. It is dichostasia and can be rendered "a dissension."

Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them (KJV Romans 16:17)

The third word is "heresy." This word comes from hairesis which means a chosen opinion. It is found in 1 Peter 2:1 as destructive opinions which come from false teachings.

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them-- bringing swift destruction on themselves. (NIV 2 Peter 2:1)

A heresy is "a deliberate denial of revealed truth coupled with the acceptance of error." [Elwell, p. 508] It is a conscious and willful rejection of any doctrine essential to the Christian faith. One person can be a heretic, but a group cannot be a heretic.

Alan Gomes in Unmasking The Cults give the most clear and concise definition I have ever read:

A cult of Christianity is a group of people, which claiming to be Christian, embraces a particular doctrinal system taught by an individual leader, group of leaders, or organization, which (system) denies (either explicitly or implicitly) one or more of the central doctrines of the Christian faith as taught in the sixty-six books of the Bible.

The best summary of the meaning of "cult" I have found is Cult: A Theological Definition. I would encourage you to visit this link and print/read the entire article. This outline will serve as my definition of cult for this article.

Other very good articles that will help you understand the characteristics of cult are Aberrant Christianity:What Is It?, especially the "Characteristics of an Aberrant Group." Another list worth having in Marks of A Cult. Matthew J. Slick gives a brief answer to Why is a Cult a Cult?  Take a look at Craig Branch on the Watchman Expositor: A Mark of False Teachers: Twisting the Scriptures. Also, try Rick Branch's article Patterns In The Cults.

Our last term is "apostasy" which comes from the Latin word which meant to leave ones post. This was the charge against a soldier who was assigned a guard duty which he abandoned, leaving those trusting him vulnerable to attack. Apostasy in the Christian faith is abandonment of the Christian faith for unbelief. This is very insidious because all of the terms above refer to errors of some degree of care and compassion. These are usually committed by people who believe in something with certain conviction. The latent danger of apostasy is that one just does not care about truth. It is not an issue any more. A person who says, "One belief is as good as another," or "It doesn't matter what one believes as long as you're sincere" is in danger of apostasy. Apostasy comes more readily to those who do not think it is worth the fight over doctrine and give up on the real nature and meaning of truth. This is a constant silent danger within the Church.

All of the above pose different dangers and problems for believers. How should believer react to such things? Is in Christian to fight heresy, schism or cult? Maybe we should "live and let live"? Or, as others say, we should not judge but let God judge. There are too many claiming the Christian faith who have adopted a secular view of truth and rejected the biblical imperative to present a defense of the faith to both the unbeliever and the heretic, sect or cult. Scripture clearly teaches that we are to question, oppose and refute false teaching. We even at time have to name names of false teachers correcting them in order to bring them to repentance and back to the faith of the Lord Jesus. A good summary of this is Thy Word is Truth (this can be downloaded as a PDF file who link is at the end of point #1 and called "download" at his link: Thy Word).