Since New Testament Christian Church is listed here on Factnet, the question still arises- "Is NTCC a cult?" Personally, I find it hard to answer. Doctrinally, they are NOT a cult, because they do teach the Bible. However, in PRACTICE they are guilty of every single tactic that cults use to control their members and thus ACT like a cult. This may have been covered a long time ago, but I think a healthy discussion is in order to determine once and for all if they are guilty of being a cult. The fact that there have been 21,000 posting on this forum speaks volumes.

Here is a copy of cult tactics as posted by Cultwatch.com.

********** ********** ********** ********** *********
Mind Control Tool Box

Copyright © Cultwatch 1996 - 2001. Written by Mark Vrankovich
Important Note

Remember, all together these form Mind Control. Separately they are undesirable but they are not Mind Control.


Deception

A cult will use deception. The cult will not normally tell people exactly what they believe, their origins, what they practice, and what life is really like in the cult, because if people knew they would not join. This information is taught to the new recruit slowly and in pieces - a "frog in the pot" tactic.

Deception is a key pre-requisite to Mind Control. The cult must be willing to deceive people. The Bible teaches that Christians are not to use deception. Many cults know this and yet practice deception.

Deception is a very effective tool in the Mind Control Tool Box.


Exclusivism

A mind control cult will promote an "Us verses Them" environment. They will teach their members that their church is the only true church, the only church in which you can be saved. If you leave the cult then it is said you have "fallen away from God." This is done to instill fear in the members which can be expressed like this: If you ever think of leaving this body of true Christians or do something which forces us to expel you from this body then you will be losing your salvation and God will hate you. There is nowhere else you can go and still be a Christian. This is a powerful control mechanism.

Exclusivism is fear based control mechanism, the Bible tells us that we have no reason to fear except for a healthy fear of God. Exclusivism imposes false criteria on salvation - "If you do not join us and/or if you are not doing what we are doing you are not saved." This of course is a serious doctrinal error ingrained in the practice of the group. Remember, just because a group does not teach it officially does not mean they do not practice it.


Fear and Intimidation

Leadership is feared. To disagree with leadership is to disagree with God. If the leaders tell you to do something, you had better do it. Often intense breaking sessions are employed to destroy any supposed rebellion or threat to the leadership. These sessions can involve many people at once attacking the character and motives of the target.

The Bible tells Christians not to "lord it over people," but rather to be one another's servants. Jesus attacked the Pharisees who placed themselves between God and the people. It does not take much to realise that fear and intimidation is not the biblical model for Christian leadership. (Fear and Intimidation is very different from having respect for Christian leaders.)